It's Not Over Yet
by InbredSuzy
Summary: A continuation fic starting from the point of Naraku's defeat and the wish made on the jewel. Inu and Kikyo fic, but is about their reincarnations being called back for a higher purpose. Fic on hiatus 'til further notice.
1. Prologue

Hello, ssp51201 here. This is my first fic and I've never published anything for the public other than poetry. This is really exciting! For the past 11 months, I have been reading, and reviewing for many of you talented writers out there, and you all have been an inspiration for my decision to join you, instead of just being the happy reviewer. I hope you all enjoy this fic, and please give any advice, and don't be afraid to give any kinds of comments. One thing though, if you have to criticize in a negative way, please make it worth my read. Thank you for reading!

DJ Inuyasha: Sometimes on your journey you shall find roads with no ends. These, are called Col-de-sacs

**I do not own the cast of the anime series Inuyasha, but I do own the other character in this fic, as they are people from my life. **

**It's Not Over Yet...  
**

**Prologue:  
**

Have you ever wondered what your sole purpose in life would, or could be? Have you ever asked the questions, "Am I here for a reason? Or just because Mom got pregnant?" Well, I've asked myself those questions and prayed for answers. Mainly to try to gain some sense out of my life. Now, here's another question, what would you do if you actually got those answers you had been waiting for? Well, I'll tell you a long story, but I'm sure you've got the time, ne?

My name is Katie Pentner. Pretty ordinary, wouldn't you say? Well, my life has been anything BUT ordinary. This is my story, and it is a long one. So, sit back and enjoy the action, the adventure, and the romance. In a nutshell, you'll read about what it's like to be a part of the impossible. I won't be starting this off with MY life story, but with the story of all stories. You see, what I'm getting at, is that you're not necessarily your own person, you were once someone else. Have you ever wondered about that? This story will peak a lot of wonderment on that subject.

This story begins over 500 years ago in the country of Japan, back then known as Nippon. This story is about a boy and a girl who lived during the Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States Era. They shared a love that would carry over the generations. This boy was not your average Joe. Sure, he had the attitude like every guy who is rough around the edges, but it's not who he was that made him different, but what he was. This boy was not just a human, but also demon. Now, you ask yourself, could and do demons truly exist? After reading this, I think you'll get your answer. He was what is called a half-demon, or hanyou. His father was a youkai, and his mother was a human. What did he look like you ask? Well, he looked normal until you looked at his golden eyes, white hair, fangs longer than usual, and his claws instead of fingernails. But here's the kicker, he didn't have normal ears. He had dog ears on top of his head, and they were soft, white and furry. Though, since he was half human, he also turned human on a certain night of every month. He grew up quickly and on his own due to his parents dieing when he was just a child. His father was a powerful demon lord and his mother was a beautiful woman. The fact that he was both human and demon was what made his life the hardest to live. He was not accepted in either station, making him the outcast and homeless. He grew up hating and loving humans due to the fact of what he was and how they regarded him. They were afraid, impartial, and treated him with indifference. Because of what he was capable of, they feared him. His name was Inuyasha. Inuyasha had no one to depend on, no one to lean on, and a menagerie of enemies, until he met her.

Who was she you ask? She was special. She was a strong human who was a miko or priestess if you will. What was her purpose? To love and cherish others no matter what lord they serve, to heal others, to pray for others and give them light. But that's not all. She had gained one other purpose. This purpose became her downfall, but in the end, if she hadn't taken on this task, would she have had the normal human feelings she gained in the end? Her new task was to protect the Shikon Jewel, the jewel of four souls. Her name was Kikyo. She was beautiful and kind to all, except to demons. She was a skilled archer, and could shoot arrows that contained her power. She used this power to purify demons and humans alike. Killing demons to protect the Jewel changed her in the fact that she could no longer live the regular life a normal Miko could. She could not love another, or let her mind or heart become weak. She realized what she would have to give up with this new task, but no one else could keep the jewel purified. She had killed many demons, and stopped many a human from obtaining the jewel. The jewel had the power to be used as a talisman to any kind of wish or thought of salvation for whomever should get a hold of it, be they good or evil. Her life began to revolve around the jewel and nothing else, until the night she met Inuyasha. That night changed everything for both Kikyo and Inuyasha in so many ways. It was a night they would never forget.

That night, Kikyo was defending her village from a hoard of demons seeking the jewel. After she was done fighting, she noticed a strong presence in a tree a short distance away behind her. She turned to see if it was another demon, but was surprised to see it was just a human boy sitting in a tree, facing away from her. He had long black hair and wore a red kimono.

Wondering why he was there, she asked him, "Are you after the Shikon no Tama as well?"

The boy turned his head and said, "Shikon no Tama, what's that?"

"So you don't know of it. It's just as well. I warn you, do not come near me, for I will kill you."

She began to walk away when she suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious. Inuyasha then jumped out of the tree and to her side to see if she was all right and how bad her wounds were. He noticed that there were others looking for her, and so he hid in the trees and watched to see what would happen. The villagers took her back to the village to be healed. Inuyasha then spent the night thinking about what had happened, alone in the forest.

After that night, Inuyasha finds out information about the jewel, and he decides to obtain the jewel to become a full demon so that he would no longer be ridiculed. He sought respect from demons, and he hated how weak he was when he turned human. He wanted to rid himself of that weakness. He loved how he felt while he was a hanyou. He felt he could handle himself and that he at least could stand a chance. But on those nights as a human, he had no control over the outcome, and was afraid of being seen in that form. He wanted to become a "Real" demon, not just some 'half-wit' like everyone saw him as. So, he decided to obtain the jewel from 'that girl'.

"She's just a human, how hard can it be to get the jewel from her?" Inuyasha said to himself, and decides that getting through her was his salvation. So he tried, again, and again, and again. He came up trumps every time, and each time he tried, he learned more and more about Kikyo. He not only learned about her strength, he also learned something more. He learned about his own heart.

The last time he tried to get the jewel, he found Kikyo and a young girl, her sister Kaede, walking through the forest. Kikyo had been exterminating demons. He came out of the trees and shouted, "Hey Kikyo! I'm willing to take you on again, and finish this!" Kikyo turned around and gave him a rather stern look.

She then turned to her sister and said, "Kaede, run into the trees."

Once Kaede was far enough away, she squared her shoulders with Inuyasha. He looked at her with a smirk and cracked his knuckles as he stood ready to swipe the jewel away from her when he got the chance. Kikyo said nothing as she grabbed her bow and set an arrow in the string.

"Answer one thing for me. Why didn't you finish me off that night I first saw you? I was unconscious. You could have killed me and taken the jewel easily." Kikyo asked as she aimed strategically towards the hanyou.

"Keh! What kind of person do you think I am? I don't take heads of slumbering enemies. I like a challenge! I will take the Shikon no Tama with honor!"

"Ah, the hanyou wants to fight honorably. You want to become a full youkai, is that it? You don't think you're strong enough, Hanyou"

"Stop calling me 'Hanyou'! I have a name! Do not insult me!"

"Tell me this name so that I may call you by that, rather than 'Hanyou"'

Inuyasha the looked hard into her eyes and answers with what pride he has, "It's Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha. I shall remember that name." Kikyo said as Inuyasha started to sprint towards her.

Before Inuyasha knew it, he was pinned to the tree by five arrows stringing him up by his haori and his hakama. He was hoping she would not shoot more at him, when she brought out another arrow and aimed straight for his heart. He let out a gulp and thought he had tried one time too many when she put the arrow back in her quiver and turned to walk away, leaving him pinned to the tree.

"Why is it that you never seem to finish me off?!" He shouted at her.

She then turned and said, "Stop coming after the jewel, you're just a waste of arrows." She then turned and walked away.

"This is not over yet! You reek of demon blood. I'll find you by that putrid scent and follow you anywhere and I swear I'll catch you off guard, Kikyo." Inuyasha spat out as Kikyo calmly walked away, leaving him pinned to the tree.

'Putrid scent, huh?' Kikyo thought to herself as she walked away, letting his other insults fly over her like rice paper carried by the wind.

"What did she mean by that? Was that an insult?" he asked as he ripped his right sleeve away from the arrow and then pulled out the other arrows to free himself of the tree.

After that incident, Inuyasha did stop trying. He decided to get to know why she was merciful to him, even though he treated her as nothing, but she let him live. So, he followed her, to gain some understanding.

One afternoon, she called out to him. "Inuyasha, I know you're there, come out and sit with me." Inuyasha came out of the shadows and sat down a short distance away.

"I know you've been watching me, Inuyasha. Tell me, do I seem ordinary to you?"

Shocked she would say something like that to someone she doesn't know, he responded with, "What? Where are you going with this?"

"I can't let others see any kind of weakness in me. I must keep my heart closed to others. I can't love another. My duty lies with the jewel, and I am bound to only live a life of great responsibility."

Inuyasha then stood up and turned to walk away as he said, "Get over it. We both have our own cross to bear."

"You're right." Kikyo said, and Inuyasha turned to her and looked into her eyes. With that conversation, he realized that she put enough trust in him to open up to him, but why?

From that point on, they gained an understanding, and he followed Kikyo everywhere she went, and became her protector. One time when they met, Inuyasha said he had a gift for her. He gave her a little shell. When she opened it, she saw it was make-up for her lips. She accepted his gift and went home. They became close over time, and Kikyo remained unaware of the relationship and how serious things were getting, until one evening, she and Inuyasha went for a boat ride. After they docked, he waited for her to leave the boat. As Kikyo stepped off the side of the boat, she lost her footing, and bumped into Inuyasha. He caught her, and steadied her. They looked into each other's eyes, and couldn't avoid what was seen. Without thinking, Inuyasha dropped the pole he held and grasped Kikyo in a warm embrace. He then realized what he felt for her and tried to tell her about his change in decision. He had decided to become human for her. She stopped him abruptly, and told him not to say another word. Kikyo then surprised Inuyasha with a kiss. He was shocked at first, that being his first kiss, but then quickly returned the kiss. It was a kiss that they would remember forever. After their time together at the pier, they started off back to the village as it became dark. On their way back, Inuyasha bids Kikyo farewell, and Kikyo starts off towards the village.

During all of this, Kikyo had not told Inuyasha that she had been taking care of a man. His name was Onigumo. He had been injured badly somehow, and was burned from head to toe. Kikyo had deduced that he shall not move from the cave he was harbored in until he died. As she took care of Onigumo, he began to gain feelings for Kikyo. Not just friendly feelings of love and compassion, but of lust, dark feelings of wanting to see the worst happen to her, all because she held the jewel within her care. He wished to see the jewel become tainted while in her care because he felt she thought too highly of herself and was trying to be more than human. He wished for her to be proven wrong. Kaede heard him say those horrible things and told Kikyo, but Kikyo told Kaede to ignore him and give him pity because he is just a man after all.

Well, one night, after Kikyo had finished caring for him, a demon spider came upon him and offered him a chance to see his wishes become reality. The spider offered Onigumo a chance to move freely and have a new body. When Onigumo accepted, the hoards of demons appeared and took his flesh and became one with Onigumo, creating the half demon, Naraku. He decided that he should look on at the lovers to gain leverage and to get a sense as to how to break her, how to make Kikyo hate Inuyasha in order to corrupt the jewel. That was how Naraku hatched up his brilliant scheme.

Once Naraku was born in the cave, the cave was burned out, and nothing remained that even Onigumo was lying there. Naraku then sent a hoard of demons out to destroy Kikyo's village to try to gain the jewel, but he was thwarted by not only Kikyo herself, but by Inuyasha who came to salvage what he could and save as many villagers as possible. Naraku then left the scene, and hatched his plan to pit them against each other. Kikyo and Inuyasha had chosen to meet the next day so that Kikyo could give him the jewel, so that he may wish on it to become human, and they could live together. Naraku heard of this, and decided to head Kikyo off at the pass disguised as Inuyasha. He thrust his claws at her and tore a wound in her shoulder. He then walked up to her and refused her proposal to become human. He then took the jewel and crushed her shell of makeup which he caught from her as she fell when he struck her. She was going to wear the lip color for Inuyasha when she met with him. After he broke her, he walked away and left her to die in the field. As Inuyasha had arrived at the Goshinboku to meet Kikyo, a few arrows were shot at him. Behind him, was Naraku disguised as Kikyo shouting, "Die Inuyasha!" Inuyasha then ran off and went for the village in an attempt to get the jewel and flee to make his first intentional wish, to become a real demon. He did gain the jewel, but as he fled the shrine, the real Kikyo shot him with one arrow, pinning him to the tree. But, what Kikyo did after that, was she did not use the jewel to wish for her life, she told Kaede to burn the jewel with her body. She died taking the jewel with her, keeping it out of the grasp of any other who would abuse the jewel. Inuyasha then remained pinned to the tree for decades to come.

50 years later, a girl of 15, Kagome, climbed out of the bone eater's well not too far from the Goshinboku. She was pulled into the well by a demon, and thus traveled back 500 years through time to that moment. She had no idea where she was until she saw the Goshinboku. Seeing the tree which still exists in her time, and is a part of her grandfather's shrine at home, she ran towards it. She then saw the most peculiar thing. She saw a boy pinned to the tree by an arrow and tree roots. She had no idea of who he was, or why he was there, but she walked up to him, and the first thing she noticed were the ears on top of his head. Not being able to resist, she pet his ears, noticing he didn't react to her touch. The villagers caught her and took her to the village. There she met Kaede, and in meeting her, learned that she may be the reincarnation of her sister, Kikyo.

The demon that had attacked Kagome came out to the village seeking Kagome, saying that she had the jewel. Kagome had no idea what the demon was talking about, but draws the demon away from the village so that no one would get hurt. She then yelled for help, and her cries awoke Inuyasha, who recognized her scent right away, as if she never left. Kagome ran to the Goshinboku and saw that Inuyasha was very much awake, especially since he was throwing insults at her in an assumed name. She asked him if he could help, and the demon grabbed Kagome and ripped the jewel out of her side. Inuyasha was shocked by this, and asked to be given the jewel before it's too late. The demon, which was a giant centipede with the torso of a woman with six arms, wrapped herself around Kagome and Inuyasha to pin her to the tree and then ate the jewel. Inuyasha then asked to be freed, and Kagome chose to heed his word and destroyed the arrow that had been pinning him to the tree, awakening his power. Inuyasha then defeated the demon and saved the villagers.

But, was he the hero? Well, the first thing he did after defeating the demon was attack Kagome to get the jewel from her. Thus, causing Kaede to cast a spell on him which Kikyo herself had devised to use on him in the beginning, but chose not to when they became close. It was a rosary with black beads and white fangs that went around his neck. So, whenever Kagome said the word, "Sit" His face would plummet to the ground, causing him to heel and obey.

Having the jewel within her was proof enough that she was Kikyo's reincarnation. Kagome and Inuyasha would go on many adventures after the jewel shattered due to Kagome trying to retrieve it from a demon crow. Kagome was also kidnapped and Kikyo was resurrected into a body made up of graveyard soil, bones and ashes from her gravesite, and from Kagome's soul. Inuyasha then realized that Kagome really truly was Kikyo's reincarnation if Kikyo's soul came out of Kagome.

Kikyo then went off on her own, devising a plan to kill Inuyasha, but then Inuyasha finds out it was Naraku who had pit them against each other and then decided to find and kill Naraku. Kikyo found this out when she tried to take Inuyasha to hell with her, and then found out how much Inuyasha loved her and cared for Kagome.

Through all of that, Inuyasha and Kagome go on very many adventures and fought many demons to find the shards of the jewel, so that they could piece it together again. They met new friends and learned of new schemes Naraku had come up with until they found the jewel complete and they had one final showdown with Naraku.

Kikyo once told Inuyasha that she had a plan to kill Naraku, all the while Inuyasha refused, saying that she should just leave her revenge up to him and let him protect her, but she would have none of that. She said that she wished to finish Naraku while he was still in love with her once the jewel had been finished. She wanted to use the power of the jewel to send him to oblivion. Well, against Inuyasha' s wishes, she got her chance as they face off for the last time. As Naraku was injured and couldn't fight to his full potential, Kikyo then grabbed a hold of him and then took him with her to hell, taking both Naraku and herself from the world of the living.

Inuyasha was grieved by his loss for Kikyo, but then realized that the jewel was whole, and there was no one left to stand between him and the jewel.

'Do I still want to become a full-fledged demon?' he asked himself, as Kagome picked up the jewel and held it up in her hands, looking at it's glow as she purified it once again.

She then looked to Inuyasha and said, "Here, this is yours now."

Inuyasha took the jewel and held it in his hand. 'What do I want?' he asked himself. He then looked to Kagome and said, "I don't know what to wish for." He handed it back to her.

Kagome was shocked to see that he no longer wished to become a full-fledged demon. A part of her cheered, but she felt sullen and asked, "Why not? I have no use for it. I have everything I've ever wanted out of life. All I've wished for has come true. Here, it belongs to you Inuyasha. You're the one who's lost the most between us." She handed the jewel back to him.

He then searched his heart and tried to find something he wanted. Then he thought about how he had lost Kikyo, and wondered if he should wish her back to life. But he then thought about her life up until then as a clay zombie, and thought against that. He felt he would be no better than the witch who revived her as such, Urasue.

He thought about living his life with Kagome, but he felt there was no way he could take her away from her time, and he didn't think he'd want to live in her time, always hiding himself and trying to keep him a secret. He loved Kagome, but then he thought about another possibility. Kikyo had been reincarnated into such a wonderful person, Kagome. Maybe he could do that, wish to have her reincarnated with him in the future if he should die. As he thought this, the jewel in his hand glowed. He stared at the jewel, and then glanced over to Kagome and noticed she was glowing as well. He screamed her name, and he heard her scream his just before she and the jewel disappeared out of sight.

"Oh No!" He thought as he searched for her, calling Kagome's name. He got not response. He then headed to the Bone Eater's Well, and jumped in. Instead of seeing the blue light that usually surrounded him when he traveled through time, he hit the bottom of the well, but there was no light. Inuyasha landed on the dirt for the first time unexpectedly.

"Kagome's gone, and the jewel is no more. The well has been sealed. No! Kagome!" He shouts as tears fall down his cheeks and he cries for the first time since he was a child. Kagome notices the well has been sealed also, and was found crying for her lost beloved in the same place Inuyasha cried or her in the past.

Well, that's the prologue, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Please R&R. Thank you! Ja ne!


	2. Without you

I don't own the cast of Inuyasha.

**Chapter 1: Without You...  
**

Kagome had lost her first love without even saying goodbye. She felt that she would never love again, but she somehow she knew Inuyasha would want her to move on. She hoped that Kaede would figure out a way to replenish the spell on the well to reopen the gateway, and she waited by the well, praying to see that beautiful light again, and hopefully hear Inuyasha's voice calling to her. For about two days, she did not come out of that well. She cried so hard to the point where she couldn't cry anymore. Little did she know, that's what Inuyasha had been doing. Kagome tried to forget, but she couldn't. She knew she no longer had a purpose in the Feudal Era, and in some small way, she was relieved that she wouldn't have to hide her excursions any longer. She spent her days that week talking to the dirt, and praying to the gods that Inuyasha was all right, that Shippo was happy, and that Sango and Miroku were together. Oh the things she will have missed, but the worst was her first love, Inuyasha.

Shippo was worried for Inuyasha. He hadn't come out of the well at all since Kagome disappeared. Shippo had never seen Inuyasha that listless and it seemed like everything about him was lost when Kagome left. Shippo didn't get a chance to say goodbye either. None of them were expecting this. Least of all Inuyasha's actions. They thought he would have just spat at the well and said, "Good riddance to that annoyance". Since they weren't there when she left, they didn't know how it happened. They had tried to get it out of Inuyasha as to what happened, but he was pretty much dead. What they didn't know was that Kikyo was no longer there among them, and that Kagome was ripped from him without him even telling her how much he truly loved her.

"Why is it when I fall for someone, they are ripped from me?"

That's all Shippo got out of him after three days. 'Does he even know I'm here' Shippo thought to himself as another crying fit hit Inuyasha and he just buried his face in the dirt, hoping the tears could reach Kagome. Shippo even saw him clawing at the dirt, hoping to reopen the barrier by just digging a hole.

"Wow, Inuyasha. Are you even going to leave the well?" Miroku asked as he leaned over the edge looking down on the pathetic behavior of their strong friend.

Sango threw her rope down the well and climbed down. She then kneeled down beside him and stroked his back in sympathy. She was surprised at what happened as well. Her friend and sister are gone and she didn't get the chance to say goodbye either.

After all, it was only Inuyasha and Kagome who had gone to defeat Naraku. Miroku, Shippo and Sango had gone to the neighboring village to exercise a demon from a house. Sango went because she is, after all, a demon slayer. Shippo went to protect Sango from Miroku, as usual. Kagome and Inuyasha had stayed by Kaede's and gathered herbs and just relaxed, when Naraku came around and started a rouse. That's when Kagome shot Naraku again with her arrow, and hurt him pretty badly. Then Kikyo showed up and told Inuyasha and Kagome that this was her mission to destroy Naraku. That's when Kikyo and Naraku had left the land of the living.

Two days ago when Sango, Miroku and Shippo returned, they noticed that Inuyasha and Kagome were gone. So, after listing to what Kaede had to say, which wasn't much, they went to the well. That's when they found Inuyasha laying in the well weeping like a dog that lost his best friend. Since Inuyasha wouldn't tell them what had happened, they didn't know what to think other than something had happened to Kagome. Miroku was the one who finally got something out of Inuyasha. Sango and Shippo had gone back to Kaede's to tell her that Kagome was gone and that the well was sealed. They were asked, by Miroku, to leave it to him, as he walked back to the well once again.

"Tell me, Inuyasha. What happened while we were gone? What did you mean when you said that everyone you fall for gets ripped from you?"

That's when Inuyasha finally sat up inside the well and stared off into space. All he had done was lay there in the dirt, looking at nothing but dirt. The same dirt that used to step aside for them in the past.

"This is the first time I've touched this dirt for this long."

'O.K., that was just weird. Is he losing it?' Miroku thought to himself. "Why is that?" Miroku asked.

"Because this is the furthest I've been from Kagome in a long time, since we met." Inuyasha said in a monotone.

"Don't you mean the closest?" Miroku asked with a slight smart tone, trying to get him to laugh, or something. Well, he got a reaction, but not the one he wanted.

Inuyasha jumped out of the well and picked Miroku up by the collar and looked him right in the eyes with a glare he hadn't seen since the day he and Inuyasha met. "You know nothing, monk." Inuyasha growled into his face and held him so close Miroku could feel Inuyasha's tears wet his cheeks. Miroku didn't know how to respond. He had never felt so scared of Inuyasha than he had that moment.

"You really curious? You REALLY want to know why I'm hurting." Inuyasha growled piercing him with the most pain he had ever seen in a pair of eyes.

"If it will help you, yes. Kagome was my friend too, and I'm concerned, as are Sango, Shippo and I'm sure Kaede is as well." Miroku tried to hold his resolve and stay as strong as he could while in Inuyasha's grasp. Inuyasha looked into his eyes for another moment, then released Miroku and sat down and leaned over the side of the well letting another tear fall down into the depths once more. Miroku just sat down beside him and looked into the well as well, letting Inuyasha decide where he wanted to start. He figured if he was that hurt, he wouldn't want to look Miroku in the eye to see him hurting as well.

"While you were gone, that Bastard Naraku showed up. He started talking crap again, and Kagome shot an arrow at him and hurt him pretty badly. I was about to take a swing at him when Kikyo showed up." Inuyasha said this without even blinking.

"Kikyo was here? That can't be good. What happened after that?" Miroku asked looking at Inuyasha to see if he would react to talking about Kikyo.

"Well, she stopped me from attacking Naraku. I told her to leave, but she just walked up to him and looked him right in the eyes and said, 'you haven't totally rid yourself of Onigumo like you thought you had. I know how to defeat you.' All Naraku did was look at her. She turned to me and said, 'Goodbye, my love.' Before I could do anything she turned and embraced Naraku and this light surrounded them and before Kagome and I knew it, Naraku and Kikyo were gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Miroku looked at his right hand and took off the glove. Sure enough, the Kazaana was gone. Miroku didn't even notice this change. The demon they went to exercise had been an out of control snake, and Sango had done the honors of killing it. Inuyasha noticed that Miroku was staring at his hand. He looked at him and saw the shock on his face, then looked at his complete hand. Inuyasha was not surprised in the least. Inuyasha turned to Miroku and looked him in the face and said, "You should thank Kikyo, she's the one who saved you."

"I know. I didn't even know it disappeared. I didn't even use my Kazaana when we went to fight the demon in the other village. Sango took care of it easily."

"Well, I knew it was gone when I felt Naraku's presence leave this world. I am so mad I didn't get a chance to get one hit in. I told Kikyo before to stay out of it, and that I'd protect her so that she wouldn't have to fight. Well, I never got a say in it before she took him with her to hell."

"What about Kagome? What happened?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but I can't reach her. The well sealed itself again. We got the jewel, and tried to decide who was going to make a wish. Kagome said she had nothing to wish for, so she handed it to me."

"Well, I can certainly guess what you didn't wish for." Miroku said as he looked Inuyasha in the eyes with an 'I knew it' look.

"Yup, I decided that I no longer wanted to become fully demon."

"What was your wish?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't actually wish for anything. I was thinking about me and Kikyo being together in another lifetime, and the jewel began to glow in my hand. I also noticed that Kagome was also glowing. The light was so bright; I closed my eyes for a second. When I opened my eyes, Kagome and the jewel were gone."

"I see, the one wish was used, the jewel is no longer existent. Since the wish was pure hearted, Midoriko was able to win the battle." Miroku stated with a hand to his chin.

"What do you mean? How does that explain the well being sealed? How does that explain Kagome being sent back to her own time without her wanting to go back?" Inuyasha asked rather irrationally.

"Maybe the well was opened once again due to her being near the well for the first time. Since the jewel no longer exists in her time, the well is no longer needed for time travel. It was, after all, the wish of the demon that pulled her into the well to get the jewel, was it not? Kagome didn't know anything about the jewel until that day, am I correct?"

"I guess. That's how she said she got to this time; she was pulled in by Mistress Centipede. I killed Mistress Centipede that night I awoke on the tree. You know, when I first saw her, I thought she was Kikyo. I made fun of her thinking she was Kikyo. I'll never meet anyone like her again, will I?"

"What are you saying, Inuyasha?"

"Well, I thought that if Kikyo was reincarnated again, I would meet her in another lifetime, and she would be just like Kagome. I love Kikyo, but I can't deny how I feel about Kagome. She was so like Kikyo, but also so unlike Kikyo. It's hard to figure out who I truly loved. Before Kikyo and I really got the chance to do what we wanted together, we were torn from each other. But, Kikyo wanted me to become human. Kagome wanted me just the way I am. How can anyone choose with such a case as this?"

"So true, my friend. It's not easy to figure out who it is, or to even find the one you're meant to be with to the end of your days." Miroku said with his eyes closed and nodding.

"But what about Sango? You fondle her all the time! Why do you do that, you letch?" Inuyasha stared at him hoping he would give a straight answer.

"Well, now that I know I'm no longer at the mercy of the Kazaana, I can make a decision. I have chosen Sango. She knows it as well; she will be happy to see I'm fine and will no longer be in danger. Although, she will be upset that she didn't get the chance to get at least on hit in at Naraku. She's lost so much."

Inuyasha was surprised at this answer, but at least he was serious for once. "You better be a good man to her, you here me?!" He drummed into Miroku as if he were Sango's father. "You better not look at another woman after you two get together, YOU HEAR ME LECH!"

"Calm down Inuyasha! Of course I'll remain faithful! What do you take me for?! I no longer have to worry about my lifeline being short! I can now live the life of a normal monk!"

"You better! If I see one unhappy tear on her face, I'm coming after you! And I mean that!"

"It's all right! I LOVE HER!"

Inuyasha was shocked by that outburst. He looked Miroku in the eyes and saw the truth. 'I guess Kagome was right, Miroku does love Sango. How could I have been so blind?' "Good, now go tell her before I have to kick your ass for procrastinating!"

"What about you, Inuyasha? What are you going to do?' Miroku asked wondering about what the hanyou was thinking.

"I don't know. I don't have anyone to remain here for. I have no one to protect. I have no one to love or lean on. You have Sango. Shippo can stay with Kaede. I'm back where I started. Alone and homeless. I have no purpose, Miroku. So go. Don't worry about me. Go live your life, since I can't live it for you." Inuyasha then leapt up into the nearest tree and then out of sight.

I certainly hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please, Read&Review, thanks! Ja ne!


	3. Fateful Day

**I don't own the characters of Inuyasha**

**Chapter Two: Fateful Day**

Inuyasha kept running through the trees in the forest until he came to a clearing. Once he surveyed that he was alone, he walked back to the nearest tree and sat down with his back to the trunk. He then remembered something he had forgotten a long time ago. You would ask, how could he forget something like this, but he had just gotten so used to it being there, that he hadn't paid any attention to it. He felt under his kimono at the neckline and pulled out a leather strap which held a locket close to his heart. He eyed the golden pendant and then remembered that Kagome had given it to him before the fight with Kaguya.

"I can't believe I almost didn't accept it from her, and to think it saved my life, and hers." Inuyasha said to himself as he opened the locket and looked at their faces. This is the only memento he has of her, as well as his memories. He laughed at how their expressions were so similar. He then was punched in the heart, and wound up back to where he was two days ago, when he lost Kagome forever. He thought it was hard to lose Kikyo's love the first time he lost someone, but this was much worse. He never even paid any attention as to how he truly felt about Kagome.

"Well, I guess I have nothing to cry over because I know that at least in her time, she'll be safe and free from danger. She went through so much here in this time, and she pretty much lost her innocence. I guess she would want me to move on, like I'm sure she has by now."

While he was sitting there, staring into the beautiful sky, thinking about what he would do for the rest of his life, since he was alone once again, he caught the scent of the last person he wanted to see. "What do you want, you jerk?" Inuyasha said as he stood up ready to guard against any attacks.

"You're here alone, are you?" Sesshoumaru asked as he came into view from the trees just a little to Inuyasha's right. Inuyasha turned to face him, shoulders squared, ready to defend himself. "What are you so uptight about, little brother? I just have some questions."

"Sure, I bet you do. For your information, it's none of your business why I'm here alone. What makes you think I'd confide in you?" Inuyasha growled.

"I've noticed that I can't smell Naraku anywhere. Would you know what happened? Or his whereabouts?"

"Yeah, I know where he is. But I'll tell you this, you'd might as well quit looking because you aint gonna find him." Inuyasha said with a smirk on his face.

"Really? What makes you so sure I wouldn't find him?"

"Because, you moron, he's in hell already!" Inuyasha chimed with a smirk, and a chuckle. 'Ha, that's right, Sesshoumaru wanted revenge also, but he aint gonna get it now. Poor guy.'

"What! How can that be?! What happened! I better not hear you say YOU killed him!" Sesshoumaru growled, losing the stoic look on his face, which Inuyasha found a bit comical.

"Tsch. Of course it wasn't me who killed him, but I was there. Like you, brother, I didn't get revenge either. I didn't even get a hit in, but the fact that you're really upset by this makes me laugh! I'm just glad the bastard is gone for good!" Inuyasha laughed until Sesshoumaru ran up to him and grabbed him by the neck and lifted his feet off the ground just far enough for him to stop laughing.

"You jerk! Don't you dare mock me, or I'll kill you right here! Who killed Naraku? Who took my revenge for Rin and that little bastard Kohaku! Who was it?" Sesshoumaru was starting to loose his patience with Inuyasha. He had never been insulted this badly by him. 'Where does he get off?'

"Kikyo...got...her...revenge." Was all Inuyasha could get out while in Sesshoumaru's grasp. Seeing as Inuyasha was finally done laughing and mocking him, he dropped him so that he could get his breath back to answer some more questions.

"What do you mean Kikyo's revenge?" Sesshoumaru didn't know the circumstances of why Kikyo would have need of revenge from Naraku. In all the time after Inuyasha had been revived, he still hadn't asked Inuyasha what had caused his entrapment. 'Well, better late than never.'

"Like you'd ever be interested in what happened to me and Kikyo when Naraku came into the picture and screwed things up. It's none of your business! Why do you care?!" Inuyasha was surprised Sesshoumaru would even ask that. He has never even showed any ounce of concern for him before, why now?

Sesshoumaru sat down and looked Inuyasha in the eyes and said with a straight face, "I'm not concerned for you or Kikyo. I just want to know why someone like Kikyo would despise Naraku enough to kill him. It's true I don't know your story, but don't think for an instant that I really care what happened in the past. I hold no sympathy for you and your mistakes with being involved with a powerful miko. That was your bed you made, and I hear you slept in it for fifty years, am I right?"

"Gee, you don't stop at nothing do you? You don't care, huh? Well, if you have no reason to show me sympathy why would I tell you? Just take the info I gave you and walk away! You don't know what I've been through these past few days, you asshole!" Inuyasha shouted back.

Inuyasha tried to hold back the tears again as he was reminded for that split second that he had lost two of his loves in the same day forever. Sesshoumaru wasn't helping in the fact that he wasn't flinching at anything he had said.

"What would you do if something happened to you and Rin, huh? What would you do if someone tried to pit you two against each other just to corrupt the jewel, huh? Would you feel betrayed? Would you hate her? Especially since the jerk-off who was doing this took both your forms? Wouldn't you be drawn to hate her for her betrayal? Answer me?!!! See! I told you, you have no heart! Get away from me!"

"You don't know my relationship with Rin. Don't you dare compare me to you, you asshole. I would never let anything come between someone I held close to me. Also, I'm not weak hearted like you are. I wouldn't fall for something as pathetic as loving and giving my heart to a powerful miko, like you did. What makes you think I would keep someone around who could kill me if they desired? You're so careless." Sesshoumaru pointed out to Inuyasha without even breaking in for a breath. It was like he had rehearsed it. 'How can he just say that with confidence so easily?' Inuyasha thought to himself as he looked into his eyes. Noticing that he was being civilized with him. Inuyasha had never seen Sesshoumaru showing this much of his heart like that. Especially since he was sitting next to him, not standing over him like he was the parent.

Inuyasha just looked away and said, "I didn't say I was putting you at level with me. I just asked you a question. Why do you have to turn everything I say around and make me look like I'm a fool?! I'm not stupid! You have no idea what I've been through in my life. And you, my brother, didn't help! You made it worse! After my mother and our father died, I had no one because you treated me like you are now! You never treated me like I was worth anything! Like I was some rags you found on the trail! I only felt hatred for you when you told me I was an outcast, and was a disgrace to the youkais! I'm not pathetic! I'm the reason you only have one arm, you dumbass!" Inuyasha then turned to look him in the eyes to show his pain. Sesshoumaru just sat there and looked him in the eyes for a moment and then stood up, towering over Inuyasha like he usually would.

"You want to show your worth? Is that what you think this is all about? I only wanted answers from you in hopes of exacting my revenge on Naraku and that brat for putting Rin in danger. I had no intentions of fighting with you, Baka. But, if you feel you have to prove your worth to me again, fine. Come at me, little brother and we'll see if you've learned anything since we fought last. That's if you still have anything left in you for fighting me. You look like you've been through hell."

"Fine! You're gonna keep insulting me? You'll regret that Sesshoumaru. Yeah, I've been through hell. You wanna know why? Huh? Well, if you'd lost the two people you've ever truly loved and gave your heart to in one day, you'd go through hell too!" Inuyasha spouted out as he drew Tetsussaiga and readied himself with a glare on his face.

Sesshoumaru pulled Toukijin from his belt and prepared for Inuyasha to run aimlessly at him, like he usually would. Inuyasha stood there, 15 feet away and just studied the look Sesshoumaru gave him. There was no anger. He was just eyeing Inuyasha with a poker face that would scare a mouse. Like he knew what he was going to do, and just knew how to counter it. Inuyasha couldn't figure out whether to just charge him recklessly, or to stand and wait to see what he'd do.

'Tsch...He's got me in a stalemate. Of all the times we've fought, it's been the same. I usually make the first move, and he is waiting for me to do that very thing, just take a swing at him. Huh, like I'm gonna be that stupid this time. I wanna wait for him this time.' Inuyasha just stood there, watching him closely, developing a poker face of his own. Neither one of them paid any attention to anything around them. If either one of them blinked, it could be their last. This goes on for about ten minutes. Then Inuyasha does something surprising. He sheaths Tetsussaiga and stands in front of Sesshoumaru squaring his shoulders.

'What is he doing? Why did he put Tetsussaiga away? Is he being stupid? Or is he giving up?' "Why did you sheath your sword?" Sesshoumaru asked and straightened thinking he had changed his mind.

Then before Sesshoumaru knew what was happening, Inuyasha had leapt the 15 feet between them and struck him with his claws. It happened so fast that he didn't even get enough time to react. His armor was destroyed and he jumped back. Not realizing that Inuyasha had not only destroyed his armor, but he had also nabbed Tenseiga from his belt. Inuyasha then leaped back 10 feet and stood there with Tenseiga twirling in his hand.

"I just figured you'd read me too easily if I just took a swing at you. Plus, now that you don't have Tenseiga, it won't save you this time around." Inuyasha then planted Tenseiga in the ground next to him and then once again, drew Tetsussaiga and stood poised to throw a Kaze no Kizu his way.

Sesshoumaru started to scowl at Inuyasha for taking his protection so easily. 'I guess I may have underestimated him.' Sesshoumaru decided to swing Toukijin at Inuyasha to get the fight started and Inuyasha countered with Kaze no Kizu and stopped Sesshoumaru's attack. Sesshoumaru didn't show any reaction, but decided to try to get close enough to take his protection away. Inuyasha then started blocking his attacks and tried hard to keep his sword in his hands. Sesshoumaru then sheathed Toukijin and leaped at Inuyasha and grabbed his wrist, trying to weak his hold on Tetsussaiga.

'Damn, if I still had my other arm, I could grab both of his wrists at the same time. Then we'd be even.' Sesshoumaru kicked Tetsussaiga out of Inuyasha's hands and then held him close enough to hit him square in the face. Just hard enough to knock him back away from Tetsussaiga. Sesshoumaru then closed the distance between them to tower over Inuyasha. Inuyasha then looked up at Sesshoumaru and spit in his face. Sesshoumaru grabbed Inuyasha by the collar of his fire rat kimono and held him in the air once again.

"So, this is the best you can do, is it? You've mocked me for the last time, little brother. This time, I won't let you get off so easily. I'm gonna make sure you die, like the trash you are. Thinking I'm on the same level as you and would do stupid things like you have? Never!" Then, before Inuyasha could say a word, Sesshoumaru had thrown him down on the ground and thrust his hand into his chest and grabbed onto his heart wrapping his poisoned claws around his aorta. "If you have anything to say, you better say it now."

Inuyasha screamed so hard, he was out of breath, and the pain was so excruciating, he couldn't even say a word. 'Is this it? Is this my end? I've lived through a hole in my chest before. I'll get through this, right? I'm not going to die today, right?'

His blood was dripping out of his chest and his body was beginning to go numb from the pain. But, things got even worse. Sesshoumaru lifted him up by his heart and held him before him and smiled at Inuyasha. Something Inuyasha had definitely not expected to see. That scared Inuyasha even more, because he had no idea what Sesshoumaru would do next, but he knew he wouldn't survive now.

"I'm giving you a chance to be with your love now. Live happily in hell together, you filthy half-breed of a half brother."

The next thing that happened was inevitable. Sesshoumaru lifted up his right knee and kicked Inuyasha in the stomach, pushing his body back, as his heart stayed held tightly in his hand. Inuyasha's heart was ripped fully from his chest leaving a hallow hole. With the last few seconds of his life, Inuyasha saw Sesshoumaru standing there with his heart in his hand and a smile wider than he had ever seen on Sesshoumaru's face. Sesshoumaru was so content in seeing him die. Finally having his triumph over his strong-willed little brother.

Inuyasha landed with a thud 4 feet away from Sesshoumaru and his heart. His last breath was spent on saying a name, the only name that came to his dying mind, "Kikyo". His head then lolled to the side with a look of utter surprise on his face.

Sesshoumaru then threw the heart to land beside Inuyasha's body and turned to walk away. Away from the one annoyance he had tried so hard to get rid of for most of his life. To Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha was a disgrace. He would do stupid things and then he would think he was strong enough to bully others with that pathetic chip on his shoulder. "Good riddance, nuisance"

Ooch...Yeah, now you're mad aren't you? dodges lettuce and tomatoes, and what's with the asparagus?! Well, if he didn't die, how else can he be reincarnated? Plus, who else could actually put up a challenge after Naraku's banishing? Don't you worry, Inuyasha will return. And no, I don't hate Sesshoumaru. This is actually the last time he'll hurt his brother, I swear! Thanks for reading, and please review, or I'll stop posting! Ja ne! ;)


	4. Aftermath

**I do not own the Characters of Inuyasha, just this plot and my own original characters.**

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have reviewed this fic so far, and all my beta readers...You guys are the best! KagomeRessurected, DJ Inuyasha, and Daniy Jinx...**I love you guys!** Also, until things pick up, I'm just going to answer any questions or reviews through email, K? Plus, not only are these wonderful writers (my betas) but also wonderful artists! Dj and Daniy are both working on coloring my art work, and I've posted three so far. Just in case you're interested. Thanks again! I love you all! Ja ne!

**Chapter 3: Aftermath**

Hello, It's Katie. Yes, I'm still telling this story. Just keep reading and imagine it being told to you by me, ok? Yeah I know. That was a very gruesome ending to Inuyasha's life, I agree, but that's exactly what happened. But, what happens after his death you ask? Well, I was just getting to that.

Toki was walking towards Inuyasha's forest on the way back to her village when she came to a clearing of trees. She had been visiting a priest in a neighboring village. The priest she had just been returning from was an old friend of hers who had sent her a letter asking her to visit for two days. Toki was a friend of Kaede's. Kaede has been passing on some of her knowledge to Toki, seeing as how Kaede is getting on in years, and she wanted to keep the priestess traditions alive in the village. So, since she had always admired what Kaede had done for the villagers, she decided to follow in her footsteps and learn all she can from Kaede.

She was just admiring all the flowers spreading for miles along the grass it seemed when she noticed something red from amongst the tall prairie grass. She ran up to it, wondering what it could be, when she screamed and started running towards Inuyasha's forest. She couldn't believe what she had seen! Inuyasha! What happened to him! Who did that to him! "I can't do anything for him on my own!" she screamed as she ran helplessly to the village to find help. "Obviously no one knows this has happened! I have to warn the villagers that something ominous is near! Not just anyone can kill Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha had served the village for a long time, since his release from the tree. He was someone she aspired to, for courage, strength and to never give up in any goal she set for herself.

'How could this have happened? Not him! This is impossible! No, he can't be dead, it's a trick right? I wonder if Kaede or anyone else knows!' Toki thought to herself as she reached the outskirts of the village, Kaede's hut in view. She finally reached Kaede's hut and ran in to find Kaede, Miroku, Sango and Shippo sitting around a fire, eating stew. They all noticed they suddenly had company and set their bowls down.

"What is the matter Toki?" Kaede asked noticing the fright in her eyes.

"Inuyasha! !" she struggled to say as she tried to catch her breath.

Miroku then gasped at the desperation in her voice, and remembered what Inuyasha had said to him just yesterday. "Oh no. Something's wrong. Let's go, all of us!" Miroku said as they all got up and started for the door.

Toki said to bring at least a horse. Kaede grabbed a horse from the village stable and they all headed out, Toki and Kaede on the horse. Miroku, Sango and Shippo ran along side as they were lead by Toki through Inuyasha's forest.

"What has happened, Toki?" Miroku asked.

All Toki could do was look him in the eyes showing sadness. She couldn't put it into words. Miroku took that as a bad sign, and decided to just find out himself and not hurt her any further. When they reached the clearing, they noticed the red amongst the grass and flowers. They came to a complete stop and just stood there, hoping he was just sleeping, and decided to approach quietly, so as not to disturb him. Miroku sped up a step ahead and put his arm out to stop the others. When they stopped, he then proceeded to walk up to where he was lying in the grass.

What Miroku saw, was a shock. Inuyasha had been killed in the vilest way. His lifeless eyes stared at the sky, his face expressionless. It looked like he had been lying there for a day. There was no blood on his hands, so obviously he didn't do this himself. But what disturbed him the most was that Tetsussaiga was missing, along with his fire rat haori.

'That's very odd. No way could bandits have done this. Who would kill him and take the fire rat haori and Tetsussaiga?' "No, I don't believe it!" Miroku shouted. They then took that as a sign to finally come forward.

Sango, Shippo and Kaede gasped and immediately looked away for a second. Shippo then returned his gaze and walked up to the one he looked up to as his father, and started to bawl.

Sango then looked to Miroku and asked, "What's wrong, Miroku? What don't you believe? Do you have a clue of who did this?"

Miroku looked at Inuyasha, looking for any evidence as to what he was thinking could be possible. Then he looked at the hole in his chest and then to the heart that laid haphazardly beside his body. The edge of the wound in his chest was eroded, and was stained green. The heart was in worse shape. He hadn't been dead long enough to start decomposing that quickly. Only one possibility lies within that evidence.

"Sesshoumaru." Was all Miroku said as he knelt beside the body of his best friend.

Sango gasped and started to cry as she knelt beside him as well. She stared into his lifeless eyes and remembered that just a few days ago; she sat with him down in the well and tried to comfort him as he cried his heart out for the loss of his love. Now to see him like this was heart breaking, even more so than when he was crying for Kagome.

Shippo then vowed he would try his hardest to get stronger to give Sesshoumaru 'what for' in the future. Shippo couldn't believe anyone, let alone Sesshoumaru, would ever get the best of Inuyasha. Especially since whenever they fought in the past, Inuyasha always seemed to be so much stronger and a much better fighter than Sesshoumaru. He never imagined he'd see Inuyasha dead, especially not now.

"Daddy!" Shippo screamed amongst his tears and then grabbed onto Inuyasha's arm. He curled his small body around Inuyasha's large and muscular arm as his tears dampened the kimono around the stiff arm. 'I lost another father, and mother again! I loved them both and depended on them so much! Why???!!!'

Sango joined Miroku in a silent prayer as Kaede knelt beside him and she started a spell that removed the rosary from around his neck. Once the rosary was removed and intact once again, she then picked up the rosary between her fingers and hands and then prayed for her beloved friend. Once she was finished, she then stood up and started towards the Goshinboku. She then dug a small hole next to the tree and amongst the roots, under where he had spent 50 years in suspended animation. She laid the rosary in the hole and covered it.

'Kagome will never know how much she meant to him. She does not know he no longer exists in this world. I pray she finds this rosary as a reminder of him in the future. I shall write an epitaph for our wonderful friend to Kagome in the future.' Kaede thought to herself as she said a silent prayer to the Goshinboku to watch over their friend in the future for them, now that Inuyasha is gone.

They put Inuyasha's remains onto the back of the horse and then walked back to the village slowly, without conversation. It was all such a shock that neither of them knew what to say. The rock of their small group, Inuyasha was no longer among them. Inuyasha had no idea how much strength he brought to the group. Kagome and Inuyasha were what held the group together. If it weren't for them, none of them would have met, or even gotten along through that entire journey. Inuyasha was the most important part of that journey. Without his strength, tenacity, and ambition they would not have succeeded. The jewel would either still be in pieces, or in Naraku's hands. Miroku thought about how Naraku was driven away. He thought about how Kikyo and Inuyasha were the strongest of all of them. They held a love for each other that none of them could lead them away from. No matter what Kagome said, he never let Kikyo escape from his heart. She had done things to hurt him, but yet he held her so close to him. But what was the meaning of his reaction to Kagome leaving him? What was it that kept Kagome and Inuyasha so close, but never crossing the line? Was it just a simple companionship? No, it couldn't have been as simple as that. He was broken, completely broken. From what he had gathered from his relationship with Kikyo, was that he was sorrier for everything and for being alive whereas she remained a walking puppet zombie. He loved her, which was evident. But, what about Kagome? Miroku pondered on the relationship Inuyasha and Kagome had during their journey and remembered all the times they fought over Kouga, and Kikyo. They were both jealous over each other, but yet they didn't seem to come to a concrete relationship. Very strange.

'Talk about complicated. I know I couldn't deal with a relationship triangle like that.' Miroku thought to himself as the village came into view.

They decided to lead the horse to the center of the village for all to pay their respects and to give a short explanation as to the fate of their friend. Everyone gathered around the horse and they all kneeled and said a silent prayer for Inuyasha's passing. A few of the men walked up to the horse and removed Inuyasha's remains off the back of the horse and laid him face up on the ground in the center of the village. Everyone was shocked to see him like this, with everything the village went through and the history of knowing this hanyou, they couldn't get over the fact that someone killed him. None of the village men were strong enough to even scratch him, let alone knock him out.

"What does this mean?!" One of the villagers shouted out of fear at Miroku and Sango. "Does this mean we're all in danger if Inuyasha himself was felled by a demon?!"

Miroku raised his hand and said, "No. You all are safe for now. It was a demon that killed him, but not just any ordinary demon. Are any of you aware that he had a brother?"

The villagers all gasped and then looked at each other to see if any of them could answer the question. "No, we knew nothing of this brother. Was he the one who did this?"

"Yes. Although he may have killed Inuyasha he will not harm any of you. He is a demon to fear, I assure you, but he was only after Inuyasha, none of you." Miroku answered diplomatically as he looked them all in the face to give them some assurance that he knew what he was talking about. They needed someone to trust, and he hoped they could trust him, even though he does not belong to this village. Inuyasha was not born here, obviously, but it seemed he was just as much a part of this village now as any of these villagers, with how they respected him.

'He may have felt like he had no one to protect, but it seems he missed the big picture. The effect he had on these simple people. In all my travels as a monk, I have never gained this much respect. I wonder how Inuyasha would have missed this.'

The village then prepared a fire pit for their friend and held a funeral for him that night.

'Inuyasha said to me he was once again alone, and had no home to go to. He said he was on his own in the world again. He couldn't have been any farther from the truth. I still can't believe that he had closed himself off so much that he had no idea what he meant to these simple people. They saw him as their protector. I must stick around and make sure they know they have nothing to fear. I just hope they are willing to accept me here as their village monk, seeing as their high priestess is old, and may not be capable of what she used to be. I wonder what Sango would say to staying. She could teach them so much about fighting demons. I'll talk to her as soon as the fire dies down.' Miroku thought to himself as he watched the remains of his best friend disintegrate into the flames, praying that he reaches nirvana.


	5. Goshinboku Tells

**I do not own the characters of Inuyasha, just the plot and my original characters.**

Well, I thought I was only going to post one chappie tonight, but these two kinda go hand in hand. After this chapter, there will be no familiar characters, just to warn you. The rest of this fic will be dealing with Inuyasha's and Kikyo's reincarnations, how they meet, and how they find out who they really are. That's where the fun really begins. Don't worry, you'll notice subtle similarities between the two reincarnations, but just to remind you, Kagome is only in the beginning through to the end of this chapter. Thanks for your support, and I love you all! Including my awesome Beta readers! Thank you all so much, you know who you are, right? Ok, on with da fic! Ja ne!

**Chapter 4: Goshinboku tells**

Later, after spending practically a whole week just doing nothing but going back and forth from the house to the well, Kagome decided to pray to the Goshinboku and try to find solace for her loss. She got this strong urge to talk to Goshinboku and hopefully be able to move on and give her heart rest from sorrow and see the good in what had happened. She had always found peace near that special tree no matter what the circumstance. She feared that her loss of such a wonderful being such as Inuyasha could never be quenched, but she just had to try. The day was beautiful, the breeze was perfect, and she just couldn't get over how she felt when she knelt down beside the tree and wrapped her arms around the trunk. Although she felt a great loss, she was already starting to feel better just holding onto that tree. Goshinboku not only meant being a place of solace to her, but she felt the closest to Inuyasha when she touched that tree. She saw a show of everything they had gone through play over in her mind, and took comfort in it. Until, she saw things she didn't recognize.

What she saw, was horrible and brought tears to her eyes which she thought she could not shed after the tears in the well. Somehow, she saw what she thought was Sesshoumaru killing Inuyasha. 'Oh no! NO! This can't be! Is this something I missed? How will I know if it happened? I can't get back! NO!' she thought to herself as she saw another vision; Kaede was doing something at the foot of Goshinboku. She then pulled away from the tree and looked up at the branches and asked, "Is this true?" She got no answer from the tree, but closed her eyes and tried to remember what she saw Kaede doing. Kaede was burying something right under where she sat amongst the large roots under where Inuyasha was pinned. In decision to find out if this was true, she started digging.

Sure enough, it was true. What she found was devastating. She found the rosary, a small box with her name on it and a clay pot with Inuyasha's name across the side. She started bawling, and couldn't believe that Sesshoumaru would do such a thing to Inuyasha. It was one thing thinking he would eventually die, but to die in such a foul and gruesome way was unacceptable in her eyes. To her, Inuyasha deserved better! He was finally free from Naraku! He was finally free to live and not be ridiculed! She didn't expect to leave him like she did, but she had at least hoped that he could find peace finally, and his brother ruins that!

"I'll never forgive Sesshoumaru! I even started to like him in the end! Inuyasha was right! He was heartless! Where did he get off? He had no idea what Inuyasha went through! I mainly did what I did for him! Now I know, it was all in vain, wasn't it?"

She calmed down after a few moments of fuming, and decided to open the box. What she saw was a folded piece of paper with her name on it. She opened it and read the script.

"Kagome, I hate to have you find out this way, but you must know. I have bad news to give you, and I certainly hope this gives you peace somehow. I heard the story of how you were somehow thrown back to your time and the well had sealed itself. According to Miroku, Inuyasha did not speak to anyone, and did not leave the well for a few days. We don't even have any knowledge of whether or not he ate all that time. He was really broken by your leave and sadly to say the last person he spoke to was Sesshoumaru, unfortunately. We don't know how it happened, but Miroku gathered it was him who had caused Inuyasha's death. You need not know what condition we found him in, but one of the villagers found his body after he passed. Yes, this is sad news, but here's some good news. Miroku said that the last time he spoke to Inuyasha; Inuyasha had said that he had no one to look after and nothing to live for after losing both you and Kikyo. He felt he was back at square one. Kagome, he was wrong. He was so blinded by his loss of you both that he didn't realize that the villagers would have accepted him as one of them. When they all learned of his passing, they held a beautiful funeral for him and prayed for him. It was wonderful, Kagome. Miroku and Sango have agreed to stay and help the village. They are willing to help raise Shippo and Miroku is now the main holy monk of the village. Sango is helping by training the men of the village how to use various different weapons and how to fight effectively. I haven't told you all, but I have an apprentice, named Toki, who has been training under me to learn the ways of a priestess. It's so much easier now knowing we no longer have to worry about the Shikon jewel. She can actually live a normal life as a priestess and not have to worry about protecting the jewel. We don't know what happened to the jewel, but all we know is that it no longer plagues our village. Thank you very much for everything you have done for all of us, Kagome. You were our angel in disguise. We're all glad we had met you. Here are Inuyasha's ashes, or what's left of them. These belong to you, he would have wanted that. With love, Kaede"

Kagome read the letter over and over. Who would have thought that Kaede would have left her such a gift? She figured they would have built a shrine in his honor. Then it came to her, they did! The shrine she lives at now is that very shrine!

'Oh wow how things come together in the end' she thought to herself as she picked up the clay pot and held it to her heart and said, "I love you, and I always will, Inuyasha." This was the closest she will ever be to him again.

Gathering her wits and her new found gifts from the past, she ran into the house to show Mama, Souta and Grandpa. She was right, this was a shrine dedicated not only to the well, but to Inuyasha himself. Grandpa had heard stories over the years, but never thought to look at the foot of the tree for anything. He had no knowledge of the tree not only being the center of the shrine, but being a grave stone of sorts for the wonderful being known as Inuyasha. Grandpa was very saddened, but was thrilled to know the true reason behind the shrine. He thought it was dedicated only to just the well and the Goshinboku. Souta and Mama were very grieved. They enjoyed his visits. Souta enjoyed having an older brother and had hoped Inuyasha would come to stay.

After she showed the family her findings, she then took them upstairs into her bedroom and set the rosary and the clay pot on her desk and sat in her chair. She then thought about how lucky a girl she was that she was able to live a short time in the past and to love someone so special. To think he didn't leave the well. That's what she had done, she never left! She never spoke to anyone! Their love did touch each other across time, didn't it?

'Wow, I wonder what my friends would say if I told them now. I think it would help me cope. I will go to school tomorrow and ask then to come home with me. I think it's time for some show and tell.' Kagome thought and decided this as she just pulled back the covers and laid down for a long needed rest from tears and sorrow, for her friends are going to just love this! "Oyasumi, Inuyasha."

Well, that's it for the original cast for a while, but cheer up, things will just get more interesting, I guarantee it! Please R&R! Thank you! Ja ne!


	6. New Life

**I do not own the characters of Inuyasha, but I do own the rest of the characters from this chapter on 'til when I say it changes! Ha ha ha ha!!!! Just kidding...Jeeze.**

Hey everyone! I'm glad to see you're still with me, and I haven't received a flamer yet! Wow, I figured I would have really been in for it with Inu's death and all, but I'm happy about all the support. Thank you! I love you all, and I love my beta readers: KagomeResurrected, DJ Inuyasha, and Daniy Jinx. I love you guys soo much! suddenly gets soo excited; breaks out into the happy dance

**Chapter 5**

Hey everyone, it's Katie. The rest of this story will be told in third person, at least until we get to the present days. Just think of it as watching a movie and the part of 'me' is being played by a younger girl. You know, like flashbacks? It's just much easier for me to tell this story this way.  
Sound good to you? Well then, on with my story.

It was a snowy winter day, December 20th, as the birth of a beautiful baby girl happened in the year 1977. She was born to a young couple, with a two year old sister present in the hospital with them. They decided to name the little beauty, Katie. The Lindens were overjoyed to look into the beautiful brown eyes of their Christmas gift from God himself. The family had also been planning to have a family get together for the holiday, in tradition. On the 22nd, the Lindens brought Katie home as a surprise. The family was only expecting to see Patrick Linden and Tabitha, but they surprised everyone by bringing their new little bundle of joy along, since she was so quiet and only wanted to sleep.

Katie grew up quite beautifully. She had very dark brown eyes, and was blessed with many talents such as singing, acting and dancing. She was not shy in the least, and she grew up honest and strong with her parents teaching her the old ways. The old ways being; "Do unto others as they do unto you" and "Treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself". With those rules in mind, Katie grew up with no enemies, or hatred towards others. Although, there was something interesting about her. She was so pure hearted to the fact that she could never tell a lie, or hurt someone for her own benefit, whereas her sister was just the complete opposite. Katie and Tabitha were ridiculed in grade school by the other children. It was not easy on them. It was bad enough that they considered their principal as their second father. They felt they needed protection from the other students, and the principal stood up for them every time. They were raised to defend themselves if the situation called for it. The teachers saw otherwise and would often send the girls off to the principal's office to be disciplined, only to be sent back to class immediately afterwards. It got bad enough that Tabitha was soon faking illnesses to get out of going to school, whereas Katie just stood up to the kids and took everything with a grain of salt and sneered at them if they tried anything.

Not only was it the boys that gave both Katie and Tabitha trouble, but the girls as well. Tabitha grew up and grew out of her fears soon enough as the years rolled on. Tabitha turned out to be the type to just run into the fire without thinking, whereas Katie would intelligently sit back and just watch her older sister make a fool of herself. She often wondered why Tabitha never really thought about anything before she did it. Even Katie, being two years behind her had more brains and common sense, in her eyes. Katie and Tabitha got along ok, until Tabitha started telling tall tales about Katie. Once Tabitha got into high school, Katie noticed that Tabitha didn't really want to hang out or play with her much. Katie didn't feel upset about it. She was, after all more of a loner. Tabitha was the kind of girl where she didn't like being alone anywhere but in her own home. She didn't even like sitting next to strangers in the movie theater, whereas Katie always felt like her protector and sat on the other side of her older sister. Strange, huh?

Well, Tabitha had shown her true colors in college. She found her niche, and finally the family began to realize that they truly had a genius on their hands. During Katie's high school years, things were looking much better for her. She realized why it was so hard for her in grade school with the kids. All the boys she had run-ins with in grade school were asking her out. She then realized also that the girls gave her a hard time because the boys were paying her the attention and not them. Needless to say, Katie became quite the heart breaker. All these boys never had a chance. She couldn't look at them the way they saw her. She would forever see them as they were when they first tortured her in grade school and junior high. She laughed about it often because she couldn't believe that even they would find her attractive.

You see, she was looked upon as beautiful by her parents, but in her own eyes, she was flawed. She grew up to be 5' 9" and had long brown hair. She had 10 body fat, and the shape of a Barbie doll. She was well endowed, let's just say, but her features were what upset her the most. She was the most sensitive about her eyes. She tried to joke about it often, just so she could be strong about it. She had a lazy eye. Her left eye would cross into her right, and for a few years in her childhood, she saw double images of everything. Being young, she didn't realize that seeing double wasn't normal, so she didn't point it out. How her parents found out was a picture a photographer took. They noticed her left eye drastically turned in. That's when they took her to the optometrist and asked him what could be done. The optometrist suggested either surgery, or glasses. The doctor described what would have to be done during the surgical procedure, and her parents decided against it. So, in other words, instead of having to go through surgery where her eye would actually be extracted out of her eye socket at such a young age, they decided that the little girl with barely a nose, would have to wear the thickest little pair of glasses any kid could get.

So, you see why she was sensitive about her eyes. Well, once high school came around, she was able to start to gain control over her eyes a little, and her lenses had steadily gotten thinner over the years. She was finally given good news when she found out she could wear contacts. She was told by many people, and peers, that she looked better without her glasses because they could actually see her deep chocolate eyes finally. Not only that, but she had her braces off during her sophomore year, so she finally had a mouth full of beautiful straight teeth. She had gone through many problems with her teeth as well, but she never really put much stress on her smile. She had a small and taught jaw line, making her large teeth fit just a bit too snug. But she never really got made fun of when it came to her teeth, just her thick glasses. So, when her teeth, unfortunately, moved back to exactly where they were before she got braces, she just said she would not dwell on it and go through that hell ever again. She looked at it as no one could ever forget her smile then, and even if she grew older and Unrecognizable otherwise, they would at least remember her smile.

Regardless of her smile or her ridiculed past, she was looked upon as a prep that was very liked by almost all the boys. Not just because of her looks, but because of her pure personality and kind heart towards others. Even if she broke a boy's heart, she let him down easily. She did, however, date a few boys, and had some interesting times. She even made a few guy friends, which was easiest for her to make. She always had been impartial to the girls, even though she was just as kind to them. She only had a few girlfriends who would actually stick with her through her life, even after high school. One friend, in particular, became the best friend she will have ever had. His name was Brian Pentner.

Funny thing about Brian was that she knew about his existence long before he knew she existed. How, you ask? Well, here's something interesting. Katie's sister had a friend who was graduating form their high school in the spring of 1994. The high school was holding it's annual spring choir concert. There were a few choirs who had repertoires of pieces to perform, and each choir was set up by which year the students resided. There was the Freshman Choir, Concert Choir for the sophomores, and A Capella for the juniors and seniors, but if you were a guy you could make it into A Capella as a sophomore. That's not all, though. There was also one special choir called Show Choir. Show Choir was the kind of choir where the students would not only sing their songs, but also dance and use props and choreography. Show Choir didn't really have an age requirement, but the students had to try out for it, and would get in depending on talent.

Tabitha's best friend, Jenny, was the choreographer of the Show Choir. She was also performing that night in the A Capella, and Show Choir. Katie performed in the Concert Choir and then stayed behind with her mom and sister in the audience to watch Jenny perform, and see how great a job she did teaching the choreography to her fellow choir mates. Well, the show was a success. Not only was the auditorium filled with parents and students whooping and whistling, but there was also Katie just going nuts over one boy. Brian Pentner. Brian had a couple of solos during the show and he had this stage presence that just commanded attention. His voice was that of a tenor and it was the sweetest sound Katie had ever heard, and she thought her Dad's deep base voice was gorgeous.

Brian had on a pair of faded jeans, a white plain t-shirt and a black leather jacket. The show was taking place during the time period of the sixties. He had bright red hair, and a baby face that would look forever young and full of personality. What Katie couldn't figure out was that he looked so ordinary, but at the same time, there was something she just couldn't fathom about him. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, not even for a second. After the

Show Choir, being the last to perform for the evening, was finished, Katie right away asked their friend Jenny who the boy with the red hair was.

Jenny looked at Katie with a strange look in her eyes and

said, "Who? Rooster?"

'Rooster, huh? Interesting name.' Katie thought to herself when she heard Jenny say that his real name is Brian. As soon as Katie heard his true name; she then took off to the choir room to do something she had never done before in her life. She was going to tell Brian how wonderful a job he did, and that she loved his voice. Sadly to say, by the time she had reached the choir room, Brian was no longer there. 'How did he leave so quickly? I didn't pass him in the halls either!' Katie then just hung her shoulders and decided that she would tell him the next time she saw him. Yeah, right. She did see him in the halls during school, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him, but she was glad to know that she could admire and love him from afar. 'Wait, love him? Is that what this feeling is?'

Well, there you have it...Our two main characters have been introduced. Now, did you notice some things mentioned about Katie that are similar to Kikyo? I will have a quiz at the end of each chapter that has something key about our special characters, and I certainly hope you catch them. If you don't, that means I need to make them more noticeable. Truth be told, I don't know if cookies can be sent through a web site or not, but if you don't notice these things I ask for, then the chapter needs to be revised so that they will be noticed. Thank you, and again, I love you all for your support! Please R&R!

Ja ne! -


	7. The Meeting

**I do not own the characters of Inuyasha, but I do own these characters in this chapter! Ha ha ha!!!!**

Hey everyone! Yes! It's another chappie of Katie's life. Yes, a lot of things were skipped, but I'll tell ya what, what's here is important to the plot. Here, in this chappie, Brian and Katie actually meet!!! Yes! Inuyasha's reincarnation speaks, and there's a quiz at the end, so yes, you must take notes once again, students! You will be tested! Just kidding! Hee hee! Thanks go out to all those who have read and reviewed, and those wonderful buddies of mine who have made sure I wasn't making a fool out of myself! LOL!...yes, you all know who you are...I love you guys so much! Well, enjoy the chappie, while I write more just to keep up with you guys!

**Chapter 6: The Meeting**

Well, the summer after that was all a blur. Tabitha had a fianc' named Dan whom she had been dating for the past year, and they were engaged the last Christmas. The family was so happy, and excited. Tabitha spent most of the summer planning the wedding, and they were able to take a few small boating trips up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. That became the family outing place during the summer. Almost every weekend, the Lindens were seen enjoying their 25 1/2 foot Marlin. The kids were hanging on for dear life to the tube, or to the rope while on their skis. Tabitha was a great skier, on the water and on the slopes. Katie, however, was just the opposite. She loved skiing on the slopes also, but she couldn't keep her balance on the water long enough to keep hold of the rope. So, she stuck to the tube, and ignored the rub burns she received on her shins.

"Dang, Katie, doesn't it hurt?" Tabitha asked as her legs dried in the sun.

"Yeah, but it's well worth it! I enjoy being towed like a salmon on a string! It's fun!"

"You shouldn't do that! You should just dangle your legs out behind the tube, not inside the cover where the vinyl can burn you!"

"Why do I care? I'd rather have burns on my legs, then a hurt back! Plus the water soothes the burns anyways."

Katie was looked upon as somewhat of a tomboy by her sister because of the fact that she would climb trees, and she didn't mind getting dirty. But there was a contradiction about her. Whenever she got hurt, like a cut or a scrape, she would always rush for the band aides. That was when she was younger. The older Katie got, the stronger she became and not as afraid of infection. She did take care of herself, but yet, she wanted to have fun. Boating was a family passion. Tabitha still claims to this day that she was conceived on a boat. Katie always laughed at that. Before they were born, their parents owned a boat and went boating all the time. Once their father, Patrick, got the chance, he bought the Marlin which was much bigger than the 18 footer they had previously owned. With the Marlin, they were all able to sleep on the boat. There were two compartments for sleeping. Just enough for two adults and two children up to teens in age. Ah, yes, that was the life. On the boat with the slight rocking of the water, and the feeling of being connected with nature as they slept peacefully.

Katie thought often about Brian through the summer. Since she never got the guts again to say how she enjoyed his performance, she never got the chance to even find out where he lived or what he did throughout the summer. She did a lot with her family and a lot with her friends. But Brian stuck in her mind like glue. She realized then that she would probably never be able to forget him. She also decided that she would try to talk to him once school started again.

Well, I guess you could say Yeah right! She never did say anything to him; due to the fact that she wound up very busy her junior year. She was involved in A Capella choir and Madrigals. She did, however, see Brian and his friend walking the halls between classes. She once followed them to see if she could overhear their conversation, but the halls were too noisy, and she noticed they were walking in a circle. As soon and the bell rang to get to the classes, she dashed off to her first class. She had French class first. Man, that was the hardest class she had to overtake this year, at least at that point.

The previous year, she had been involved in Earth Club. She was the first freshman to ever be elected into a club position. Funny enough, the position she ran for and won was the vice president position. She had enough friends involved in the club to get her elected. There was only one vote that determined the winner between Katie, and her friend Kristy. Kristy was a year ahead of Katie and she had been in Earth Club longer than Katie, and Katie felt bad that she won. It all worked out in the end seeing as how Katie was so involved with the club, and the president that was elected, was impeached due to not attending any of the club outings as required. Katie handled the year quite well, and she even learned of an old friend of hers during that year. An old friend she used to go to school with. His name was Jason. Katie liked him a lot. Especially when she got to see him grown up. They were the same age, but he looked older than Katie. Katie found out that he had moved and he was living in a city about an hour away. They kept in touch and became close as friends.

Back to Katie's junior year, she was paying more attention to school, and the events. She became involved in plays and she was involved with the drama club. Since her fall semester was filled with obligations for the choirs, she was busy up until after Christmas. Jason came down from Rockford and visited his grandmother for Christmas. Katie got the chance to hang out with Jason and get to know him even more. He drove her home from school one of the days he had been visiting the library and took her to meet his Grandma. Katie had a good time. While he was driving Katie home, he asked her to be his girlfriend. Katie had liked Jason since she met him in junior high, and couldn't refuse. Jason was tall, had brown hair, and had the cutest face. When he looked her in the eyes, she would just melt.

Well, needless to say, after the holidays, Katie's spring semester started. She was going through one of the easiest days she had gone through in a while. With the start of each new semester, she got new teachers, and new classes. All except for her choir and French classes. Her gym class was also the same as it was the semester before due to what activities she could handle. Reason for that was Katie had developed asthma the year before. So, in turn, she couldn't take a class where she had to do any amount of running, and she couldn't stay active like she used to. It was required through all the years of high school to be able to run the mile. She ran the mile without a problem her freshman year. The previous year, she had only gotten a quarter of the way around the track the first round when she collapsed face first onto the track, struggling to breathe. That was the year she was diagnosed with asthma. No one in her family had asthma, so it was awfully strange that she should wind up with it. So, Katie had to choose her gym classes carefully, and they allowed her to take the same class twice in the same year.

While she was stepping into the field house for her class, she stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't breathe, or move because of what she was seeing. She couldn't believe it. Straight ahead of her, where her gym class mates would be sitting at in tem minutes, was Brian. Of course, his back was facing her, so he didn't see her state of utter shock.

'This is too perfect! How can this be? Why's he in my class? He's a year behind me! This never happens in real life! I must be living in a movie!' Katie gathered her wits about her and decided to stay calm and just sit down and not look his way. As soon as she was sitting down on the number she sat on the semester before, which was oddly enough almost right in front of him, she felt eyes burning through her. She had never felt that nervous before in her life. She had to hold herself back from turning around and looking him straight in the eyes.

Class started ten minutes later, and with the role call being different from the semester before, Katie and Brian wound up on opposite sides of the class. The schedule was to be volleyball first. Since the first thing to be done was to get teams set up, the teacher asked everybody to line up against the wall and asked if anyone wanted to be captains. Brian, surprisingly, raised his hand as a captain. 'O.K., this is starting to get weird. I think I know this one, he picks me, and we become really good pals' Katie snickered to herself. She just couldn't get over how this was unfolding. Sure enough, Katie was picked by Brian to be on his team. She tried to keep her feelings all to herself. She even looked at him as she walked past, and he watched her intently with eyes of recognition. 'Man, I've got the chills now!' Katie thought and she took her place at the end of the team line.

Once the teams were given their numbers, they were set up against other teams and sent off to their courts. Katie, who loved volleyball, was a heavy hitter due to the fact that she couldn't judge distance very well when it came to her arms. Instead of bumping the ball on her forearms, she wound up bumping on the insides of her wrists, making the ball hit bone and it would sail great distances. Katie took her place in the middle back of the court. Brian so casually took his place right next to her in the serving position. Katie was shocked that he was sticking right by her, and looking at her from the corner of his left eye.

'Is it possible that he knew I was following him all those times?' she asked herself as she steadily got nervous. The other team won the coin toss and they served first. Who did the serve go to, you ask? Yup, right to Katie. She readied herself and bumped the ball straight back to the other team and the ball was avoided and hit just inside of their court line, making it her team's turn to serve. Everyone on both teams was shocked at such precision on a bump that they just stared at Katie, and she didn't even know what to do. It seemed like an eternity that the stares lasted when Brian turned to her and said, "You know, you don't have to bump it that hard."

"I didn't, honest! It accidentally hit my wrists! I didn't mean to hit it that hard!"

"Yes you did! You were ready for it! I saw you!" He looked at Katie with a stern look in his eyes.

Katie got nervous and told him she would try to get it right next time. 'What's he so upset about? I got him the ball! C'mon! Duh!' Katie thought to herself as she tried to be more gentle with the ball. Brian was a good player. He served well, and it looked like he was very muscular and strong. She thought to herself, 'Why isn't he in football?' Well, the rest of the game was a smash. They all had a good time, and Brian's team won the first match. She was surprised at their first conversation, being an argument of things. And him watching her like he knew her somehow. The strangest part was that she felt she knew him too, but how? That was the first time they had even spoken to each other. Something was very strange about this.

Well, not only did she gain a strange relationship with Brian, but she also gained two new friends in that gym class. Her friends, Cassey and Sherry. Cassey fessed up and said that she knew Brian. When that happened, Brian opened up more and they became like a small group for a few different team activities. Brian and Katie got to know each other a little more. Once volleyball was over, they had badminton. Katie did the most unusual thing. She ran up to Brian and said, "I'll be your partner!" Brian looked at Katie cross-eyed and said, "O.K." That was when they started to get to know each other. After that, they were inseparable, as far as team and group activities were in order.

When it came to Pickle ball (If you're confused as to what that is, it's like tennis with a whiffle ball and wooden paddles, same rules apply.), Brian and Katie were partners once again. They had a good time, and they were great together. She was quick while he was strong. At one point, they both went for the ball at the same time and they collided! Brian didn't move an inch. Katie, however, was the unlucky one. She bounced off of Brian with enough force to cause her to go skidding on the concrete floor of the field house, scraping her knees and her left elbow. How it happened to her, was all a blur. Brian ran up to her, hoping she wasn't hurt too badly.

"Are you all right? Oh My God! I can't believe I did that! I'm so sorry, are you hurt?" Brian asked with urgency.

"I'm O.K. I'm just surprised I bounced off of you like that!" Katie said while laughing and crying at the same time. To Katie it was funny. But to Brian, seeing the bloody scrapes, he was upset because it was his fault that she got hurt.

"Man you've got a great center of gravity! I've never gone through something like that before!!! It didn't even hurt!" Then she looked down and noticed her knee and realized the damage inflicted by that skidding and she then started to wince instead of laugh. All of it happened so fast that before she knew it, the teacher was there and Brian was asked to help her up and take her to the nurse with the hall pass.

Okay, kiddies...Can you tell me what similarities have been mentioned between our favorite hunk Inuyasha and Brian? C'mon, I know you can pick them out. I know you're all intelligent enough...Uh...Right? Okay, well email me or leave the answers in a review, K? 'Till tomorrow! Ja ne!


	8. Worth the Try

**I don't own the characters of Inuyasha.**

Well, here we go. Another chapter for my friends and I certainly hope people are actually making it this far to actually get the gist of this story. I'm really surprised the response I've gotten, go to the first page then turn away. You know, so far I have been very loyal to my friends and have posted this for those wonderful few. I thank you guys soo much! Especially since you guys are not afraid to read something new, and different. This fic has sadly been misunderstood, and I am besides myself. Like, I said, this fic is dedicated to those select few who have encouraged me throughout it's creation. Have fun, and R&R. Ja ne!

**Chapter 7: Worth a Try**

Katie could definitely say one thing after the past few months, 'this is not some everyday life I'm leading, is it?' How many people actually meet like that? Where there was no doubt it was planned by someone? Katie liked Brian, and he was the first guy she had met who actually put her first, and treated her like a lady. Guys like Brian were very hard to come by. He had this old time feel about his politeness. He even opened doors for her, and he made sure that she was accommodated first. Plus, the one thing that stuck out the most was that he came to her aid if she ever got hurt in gym class, which was often enough. She's not afraid of a few scrapes on the knees, or elbows. She had her share of those. Katie loved to roller skate, and not just skate meaninglessly in a circle, but what she called 'Hot Dog Skating'. Yes, she did tricks, as if she was dancing on her roller skates. One of her childhood past-times was bringing her boom-box out on her driveway and playing some dance music, and then she would do tricks on her skates for all the people who were out and about. She could do jumps, skate backwards, skate in figure eights, and skate on one foot. She could even do spins that people thought could last forever, and come out of it skating a straight line.

Hot dog skating wasn't easy to come by. She had to really work on her balance, meaning she fell a lot in the beginning. She used to make sure she had a box of bandages on hand while she was out there in the heat, sweating for the neighborhood, and they loved her for it. She would get people hanging out of the windows of their cars cheering her on, due to the stunts she was doing. Yes, she might have been shy around people at first, but she enjoyed entertaining the public and making them feel good more than anything else. Her being involved with theatre during her junior year was special. She had a choir show to look forward to for A Capella. They always do the Choir show at the end of the spring semester. They had been rehearsing the play since January, and it was now April.

They were able to start having gym class outside, now since the weather had started warming up. One day during each week, they had what was called recess day. Meaning, they just walked or ran around the track. They could also try out different types of sports played during track meets. Katie, Cassey, and Sherry decided to get some miles in by walking around the track, and were deep in conversation when the sun peaked out from the clouds, making it even nicer out.

"So, Katie, what's new?" Asked Cassey.

"Well, I'm good. Nothing new really. You?" Katie asked Cassey and Sherry.

"Well, I got together with my boyfriend last weekend, and something happened!" mentioned Sherry.

"Ooh! What!?" Asked Katie and Cassey in unison.

"Well, he and I got into it in the back seat of his Camaro!" Sherry exclaimed, shocking Katie.

'Oh my! I don't really want to hear details...NO DETAILS!' Katie thought to herself, being the prude she was.

"So, how did it go?" Asked Cassey, with that mischievous look in her eyes.

"Man...wait 'til I tell you..." Sherry went on and Katie decided to keep her ears virginal and looked for a certain someone. She spotted him walking around the track directly across from them. Brian was walking with a group of guys she didn't really feel were her type. She wondered what they were talking about, and wondered what friends lay in his arsenal. She had become a partner and classmate with Brian, noticing a few of his quirks, but they never really got 'close'. They enjoyed doing things together, but they hadn't really become good friends. While Katie watched him, he suddenly caught her eyes, and she looked away quickly. That was the last thing she wanted him to see, was her staring at him.

'Ah! O.k., look interested in what Sherry's saying...Oh boy, I don't like this...' Katie thought to herself as she tried to act normal, and felt his eyes burn into her face. It was amazing how whenever he looked at her, she felt every stare. Not just anyone could do that to her. She had never felt nervous at someone's stare as much as his. Finally, she got up the courage to glance his way, and saw that he had sat down on the bleachers not to far ahead, and was tying his shoe.

'Do I try to get his attention?' Katie asked herself as they walked by, but was startled when she heard a voice call to her. Katie turned and saw Brian standing by the fence in front of the bleachers smiling at her. Katie stopped and walked over to him. She leaned on the fence and gave him her total attention, 'Hopefully I don't look too needy of attention...' she thought.

"Hey, Katie." Brian said with a smile.

"Hi, Brian, what's up?" Katie replied leaning on the fence.

"Can I talk to you?" Brian asked.

"Sure, can I sit down?" Katie asked, and he gestured for her to sit next to him.

Brian turned to face her and asked, "I'm curious, are you seeing anyone?"

'AH! Oh no! Jason! I don't want to hurt Brian...Do I tell him? Oh c'mon, don't be mean, he's sweet!' Katie thought before she answered with, "Yeah, I am. But I haven't seen my boyfriend in four months. I haven't even heard from him either, the jerk!" Katie mused as she looked him in the eyes, with a sheepish look on her face, as if she hadn't realized.

"Oh. Why haven't you seen him? Does he go here?"

"No, actually. He did go here, but he moved to Rockford last year, and I just bumped into him while he was visiting." Katie replied with a shrug.

"Oh. I was just curious. I hear a lot of guys are after you. I hear you're the pick of the litter, so to speak."

"What?!? I haven't heard anything like that before. Wow, didn't think they thought of me that way." Katie said nonchalantly.

"Well, sorry to pry, I was just wondering if you were available, you know." Brian replied, looking kind of nervous and a bit fidgety.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. But that doesn't mean I'm about to give my partner in crime up, of course!" Katie said. 'My, I hope I don't loose him.'

"O.k., thanks." Brian replied as he got up from the bleacher and jumped down onto the track. He turned and looked at Katie in the eyes, as if to say something, then continued on his walk. Alone.

Katie watched him for a minute, when Cassy and Sherry appeared in front of her and started waving their hands in her line of sight. "Earth to Katie!!!!"

"Huh?" Katie came back to earth noticing that her buddies were back. "What?"

"What was that all about, huh?" Cassy pried.

"Uh...I just got asked out...I guess..."

"What!!!!!!" Cassy and Sherry shouted. "With Brian? Whoa, girl...you said yes, right?"

"Uh, no." Katie replied thinking, 'Why am I so damn honest? I should shoot myself now!'

"I don't believe you! You had a nice guy like Brian ask you, and you turned him down?" Cassy raged.

"Yes! I'm dating Jason, remember?"

"Yeah, but you haven't even heard anything from him for over four months now! C'mon, girl! That sounds like a break-up to me. He's totally ignoring you." Sherry pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah, but he didn't break it up, if you know what I mean. There's no closure, how do I know for sure? I don't want to cheat on him!"

"Yeah, well...long distance relationships tend to end because of that. I would bet you ten dollars, 'cause that's all the lunch money I have right now, that he's cheating on you right now." Sherry mentioned with something strange in her eyes.

'I wonder if Sherry has been through something like that. She's obviously against long distance relationships.' Katie thought as she decided on her next question, "Who was he, Sherry?"

Sherry jumped back, and stared at Katie with fire in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it. Plus, we're on the subject of YOU, aren't we?"

'Damn, foiled out of that one.'

"Well, I don't think Jason's like that. He may be handsome beyond belief, but I don't think he has the personality to cruise chicks." Katie replied.

"Yeah right. C'mon, Katie. Wake up! ALL guys are like that! They ALL dream of having more than one girl at a time. ESPECIALLY if they know they can get any girl they want!"

"O.K., obviously a chord has been struck, Sherry. I'm sorry if I'm upsetting you, but I don't cheat. I have to talk to Jason first before I give Brian my heart. It doesn't belong to me, right now."

"What? Are you two that serious?" Cassy asked.

"No! No, I've just liked him for so long that I had always wanted to date him, and I feel that strongly about him. He's a wonderful guy! You guys haven't met him, have you?" Katie mentioned as the two girls just shook their heads.

Jason wasn't all that popular when he was going to West High. He was looked at as just one of the 'dorks' walking the halls. He hadn't really changed in height, voice or face until he moved. That was when he became, in Katie's mind, a babe. Jason was the clich'. You know, tall dark, handsome, and rich on top of it all. Just what a normal girl like Katie would set her sights on to settle down with in the future.

"Well, chicky, I think you need your head examined." Sherry walked off with a wink as they all headed back to the locker rooms.


	9. Prom and Dump

**I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.**

Wow, what a chapter that was, huh? What are your thoughts on something that strange? It really did happen, just to let you know. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I am more than willing to share, just as long as the questions are not too raunchy, K? Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment, K? Ja ne!

**Chapter 9: Prom & Dump**

Hey, it's Katie. Yeah, you could say that I needed my head examined. Sigh...Sherry was so right that day. Yeah, this is a new chapter of my life, and I'm going to tell it from my own mouth. This part I'm not proud of. Reason being, I let my thoughts get in the way of my heart. What I felt for Brian was so pure that I thought it was not real. You know, how love at first sight is just so Hollywood! Well, I got back in contact with Jason, and I asked him to my junior prom. I had still considered him my boyfriend, so I decided to not go with anyone else. Yeah, my acquaintance relationship with Brian was getting more interesting, and we had become like friends, but even if we saw each other in the halls, we didn't say anything to each other, but when together, we were a great team.

It's funny, now that I think about it. How well we fit together, but we didn't make any notice of it to each other, or ourselves. My head and heart were somewhere else, and Brian put himself on hold. Knowing I had a boyfriend, he stayed on the wayside, but made sure I didn't forget our companionship, however strange it was. Well, Jason and I started to actually date, and get to know each other better. Yeah, that's an understatement. Jason was no longer the guy I knew from Junior high. You know, the nerd. I found out, especially with our first kiss, that he was a sugar daddy. The kiss wasn't just an affectionate kiss. It was needy. Needy of something I could not provide. The night of the Prom, he and I went double with our buddy Todd, and his date. Todd's date, Jennifer and I, had a great time hanging out and dancing together, while Jason and Todd sat at the table, waiting for a slow dance. Huh...Men, you know? Why is it that they are so afraid to express themselves on the dance floor? We only danced one slow dance, then left to go to the prom all-nighter.

The Prom All-nighter was a fun time of gambling with play money, and a chance to make special music videos. Of course, being the person I am, I decided to get up in front of everyone and enjoy the fact that I can have fun and be serious if I chose to. I was in a bunch of music videos that night, and not one was with Jason. It was as if he was unattached from me, like he didn't even take me. Huh...the jerk. And when we got back home, which was pretty late, we were planning to get ready to go to the nearest theme park, one near Chicago. It's a big park! I was looking forward to it. I left home happy and excited. Not when I came home, though. Jason and I planned to go with my sister, Tabitha, and her fianc' Dan. When we got there, I found out that my dream man, Jason at the time, was afraid of heights!

"Oh my God!" I shouted while staring at one of the smallest rides in the park.

"I've never been on a roller coaster before! I'm afraid of heights! This is my first time here!" Jason shouted over the roar of the ride.

"Wow, how can you be alive?! You haven't really lived if you've never ridden a roller coaster!" I shouted and Tabitha nodded her agreement.

"Well, I guess I'll give it a whirl. You sure it'll be all right?" Jason shouted with an uneasy look on his face.

"Yeah! Be a man, Jason! Show me you're a man!" I shouted, and he then looked at me with understanding and determination. The determination to go through even hell for me. Man, I'll never forget that.

So, needless to say, Jason and I boarded the small, but fun ride, and we sailed into the air as we winded our way to the straight away before the take-off. I could feel his hands shaking, but he held onto my waist firmly, probably trying to show me some reassurance. Sigh, like I needed any. Well, I had never heard Jason scream before, and I laughed the whole time. 'Wow', I thought, 'Men do scream out of fear!' I had a great time that day while hearing him scream, and then laugh after he got off every coaster we went on. He had a great time, and he said he would like to come back, and that he couldn't believe he was afraid of them. Well, that was the good part about that day.

Until towards the end, when things started to wind down. Tabitha and Dan decided to play some games, and try to win some stuff. So, I joined in and we all were fighting to win stuffed animals and prizes. Well, my dumb luck took a vacation that day. I didn't win anything, but Jason and Tabitha both won stuffed raptors from the movie Jurassic Park. Naturally, you would figure that if the guy won something, he'd give it to his date, right? Wrong! Jason held on to his prize, and walked proudly around the park with his raptor. Of course, I didn't want to sound greedy, so I just decided not to say anything. After that, Jason and I decided to just sit down on a bench and rest our feet. Bad idea, I guess we should have kept on walking.

"Hey Katie, can I talk to you about something?" Jason asked as he stared into my eyes.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I've had a really great time today, and I never thought I'd have so much fun. But there's something I need to tell you, something about this summer."

'Uh oh, what's this about now?' I thought as I asked, "What is it?"

"Well, I just found out that my boss at the go-kart track back home is going on vacation for most of the summer, and I'm the assistant manager. So, I'm sorry, but I'll probably have to work at the track all summer long, and...well...I don't know if I'll have any free time to...you know...see you." He said as he let his eyes stray to the ground straight ahead of him.

"Oh, so...you mean you're...dumping me?" I replied with tears swelling in my eyes.

"Yeah...I have no choice...I'm sorry. I don't mean to hurt you, Katie. I've always liked you, and this past month has been great. Please, forgive me." He looked back up at me with a solemn look in his eyes.

I searched his eyes for a few second to see if he was lying, or telling the truth. What was going through my mind that second was, 'Yeah, because I wouldn't put out for you last night, right?'

He looked at me for those few moments and saw the contempt in my eyes form. Then he did something unexpected, he stood up and started playing the carnival games, trying to win something for me to make it all better. All the while, I thought 'Gee, what about the little raptor you have under your arm! What an idiot!' I guess you could say I would have loved to have that raptor. Heh...heh...He wanted me, and all I wanted was that raptor! Funny, huh?

Well, we finally left the park. On the way home I was having problems with my contacs, and I was also not feeling to well. Jason had deduced it to being all his fault. He stayed in the way back with me in the suburban, and tried to comfort me. He even farted for me to get me to laugh, what a geek! Well, to make a long story short, I made the wrong choice. I had decided that Sherry was in fact correct. I did need my head examined, and it came at the cost of my heart.

When I got back to school the following Monday, I acted like nothing had happened. I told Cassy and Sherry about my date with Jason, and how he dumped me the day after prom. Sherry gave me her 'I told you so' speech, and Cassy comforted me and gave me some reassurance. I was so upset and depressed at how much a fool I was that I never did get the chance to tell Brian. I dated Jason, even though I knew he had become someone I would usually avoid when it came to guys. I guess I just wanted to find the perfect guy, and I thought I could make a difference in his life. But boy was I wrong. At least he respected my feelings. He did tell me, when we had our first kiss, that he wanted me, but I told him no. He stopped and was a perfect gentleman after that, but I think that may have been the main reason why he left me.

That summer was the one where Tabitha and Dan were to get married. Since I was so wrapped up in her wedding and the choir show plans, I still had forgotten to establish a relationship with Brian, even though I really wanted to see what Cassy was talking about, and to find out why I felt the way I did around him. I felt drawn to him, like there was something there. But, what? What was it? Well, I decided to invite Jason to my sister's wedding, since he was a friend of my sister's as well. More of an acquaintance, but she liked him and thought he was a nice young guy. Plus, Tabitha allowed me to invite some of my high school friends. I didn't get Cassey's phone number, nor Sherry's. The friends I invited were my friend Tiffany and her boyfriend James, and Todd. Tabitha used to baby-sit Todd when he was little, so he was like a part of the family. Jason being like a brother to Todd, made Jason a part of the family to my parents. Since I knew the truth, I just decided to consider him a friend.

The wedding went well. We partied and danced to the best DJ in the United States. Ron, the DJ, was a part of the family, so my sister got him at discount. We couldn't believe the show he put on. He even performed! It was a wedding we'll never forget. Jason did his usual while I was on the dance floor sweating' off the lasagna I had for dinner. He was leaning back in his chair, with his feet up on the table. I asked him to dance one slow dance with me, and he accepted. Other than that, it was as if I didn't even invite him. But, he took me home after my sister and her husband left. On the way home, all he could talk about was how beautiful I was. I was dressed as one of the bridesmaids in a pastel flower patterned floor length dress with poofy sleeves. I had a fish-tail braid that went half-way down my back, and curly tendrils down the side of my face. My sister chose her friend Jenny and I to be her bridesmaids. We stood up tall and proud to support her on her special day. I even sang at her wedding. Their song was "One Hand, One Heart" from the musical 'A Westside Story'. On the rehearsal, my throat closed during the main note, and I was embarrassed, but the performance for Tabitha's wedding went perfect.

As Jason pulled up to my parent's empty house, he turned off the engine and looked over to me. I was going to ask him if he wanted to come in, but I never got a word in.

"I wish I didn't have to leave you here. I wish we could stay out longer. I don't want tonight to end so soon." Jason said as he leaned over and kissed me tenderly.

'Yeah, bud. You really mean that? Why did you dump me then?' I thought as he kissed me. I just decided to indulge him just a tad and give him that kiss.

"Why do you have to leave me so soon, Jason?" I asked, wondering why he had to leave, just to understand why he wouldn't try to get into my pants, or under my dress.

"I have to get back to my grandma's house before she gets worried. I can't stay out any later than midnight." He replied, and I thought, 'Yeah, right. like I'm gonna believe that.'

"Well, I won't keep you then. Say hi to your Grandma for me." I said as I got out of the car and pulled the keys to the garage out of my little purse so that I could get into the house before my parents got home.

He gave me one last wave and waited for me to get the garage door going before he pulled out of the driveway and drove off down the street. Well, that's that. I didn't think I would want to have anything to do with him after those pathetic excuses. I just couldn't completely figure him out! He says he loves me, then he avoids me! What's with that? It didn't even seem like he knew why he was with me himself. I don't know. I decided to just forget about it and get myself ready for a much needed rest after all that partying. I was definitely exhausted! I didn't even wait up for my parents. I just fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Well, since Tabitha's wedding took place in early August, the first day of school wasn't to far off from that fiasco with Jason. School started out with a good day, and I looked forward to that day to see what would happen next. As I suspected, I had Brian in choir with me. A Cappella that is. I got to hear him audition and again, he took my breathe away. He was wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans and he didn't look extravagant in any way, but again, there was that feeling. I found myself paying him an awful a lot of attention from afar. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I even struggled to find his voice out of the group of tenors he was amongst. I could hear him, but faintly. Hearing his voice was a comfort to my ears. It was clear, angelic, and such a tender sound. Talk about falling in love with his voice alone! Man if I was blind, I still would have felt the same about him, just at the sound of his voice.

then it was my turn to sing a solo in order to demonstrate the part for the first sopranos, since they all followed me. I was the leader because I could be heard over all of them. I didn't strive for that, it was just the strength and clarity my voice demonstrated. I looked at the teacher, and then after I was finished, an applause shocked me out of my trance of music and I looked down to see Brian staring at me with surprise. I blushed and sat down once I realized I was still standing and I just got really nervous and flustered. 'I wonder what he thought of my voice, of my God given talent' I thought as the class rang on. Once the teacher decided to give us a chance to hang out before the bell rang, I was heading down the wooden bleachers from the top row to get a drink of water from the fountain.

Brian then came up to me and asked me, "Hey, how was your summer?"

I turned around and saw who it was and replied, "Nice, yours?"

"Boring." He said flatly. There was no expression on his face with that response.

"I'm sorry to hear that. My sister got married this month, so it was a busy summer for my family. It's good to see you." I replied

"Yeah. I was wondering, would you like to go see a movie with me this weekend?" Brian asked innocently.

"Yeah! I'd love to! What movie?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Mortal Kombat. Unless you'd like to see a different one, it doesn't matter."

"No! I've been wanting to see that one! I'd love to go with you! So, when do you want to pick me up?" I asked excitedly.

"Well, I don't have my license yet, so I can't drive." He said with a sheepish look of embarrassment on his face.

"Oh, neither do I, that's interesting. Well, do you want my parents to drive? I could ask them to see another movie. I don't think Mom is interested in Mortal Kombat. Would that be all right?" I replied.

"O.K., that would be fine! How about Saturday? Would that be good for you?"

"Yeah! I'll let my parents know. Here, I'll write down my number." I said as I walked back to my chair to write it out on a piece of paper. "Call me later, k? I've gotta go, bye!" I said as I handed the number to him. That's when the bell rang.

"Bye, Katie. Thanks, I'll call you!" Brian said with a big smile on his face. A smile I will never forget.


	10. The Date

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Well, do you think I still need my head examined? Well, don't count your chickens before they hatch just yet. This is the date chapter, and I hope you enjoy our first date, at least what I remember of it...shifts eyes

**Chapter 10: The Date**

Well, that week went by really fast for Katie and Brian. They kept in touch and looked forward to the coming weekend. That weekend being Labor Day weekend, Katie's sister and her husband were going out of town to go visit with his family in Kentucky. Tabitha had asked Katie if she'd like to watch her house and take care of her cat and ratweiler while they were gone. Katie agreed, and then made plans with Brian as to where to meet for the movies.

"I have to watch my sister's house this weekend and take care of her cat and dog, so I may be a little busy, but I'm not missing our date! Oh and Mom and dad said it's all right if we go to show!" Katie told Brian over the phone the night before their date.

"O.k., where does your sister live?" Brian asked.

"She lives on Elmwood Ave." Katie replied.

"Oh! I live on Sheldon! Just one street down!" Brian exclaimed.

"Really? Cool! I'll meet you there! It's Just north of Illinois Ave, number 728. I'll just have mom and dad drop me off early and then pick us up!" Katie suggested.

"O.k., sounds good! I'll see you tomorrow at 6:30 then."

"Great, see you then! Bye!" Katie finished.

"Bye, Katie." Brian said as he hung up.

Then next day went by as a blur, and Katie was excited as she sat at her sister's house watching the TV with her sister's cute little kitty sitting on her lap and the dog on the couch next to her. She tried to keep herself calm. She didn't know what it'll be like being with him in the show. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had liked Brian for so long, and here she was, waiting for him to show up. She hopes the date will go off without a hitch when the doorbell rings, catching her off guard.

Katie hopped to the door and answered with a smile, "Hi!"

Brian stared at her as she stood at the door wearing a pretty white summer dress with red flowers on it. She had her hair up in a long ponytail, and she had a little make up on her cheeks and her eyes. The dog was huge, but she was able to get him away from the door.

Brian didn't know how long he stood there before he responded with, "Uh, Hi! Sorry, I lost my mind for a second."

Katie tried not to laugh, but her cheeks blushed as she remembered that she had gotten all dressed up, and he was just wearing a pair of jean shorts and a wolf t-shirt that she had seen him wear many times.

"Oh! Sorry, c'mon in!" Katie said as she opened the screen door for him.

"Oh, is there somewhere I can keep my bike?" Brian asked as he pointed out towards the garage door.

"Oh, yeah. Let me open the garage for you." Katie said as she walked through the kitchen and into the garage to push the button.

Brian then wheeled his bike and laid it against the inner wall and they both walked up to the button as Katie pushed it and they walked into the house.

"Would you like something to drink? Something to eat?" Katie offered.

"Is there pop?" Brian asked.

"Sure!" Katie piped when she walked to the fridge and Brian stood there petting Zeke and thinking about how he'd never thought he'd get this chance to be in the same house with her.

When she handed him his Coke, and grabbed one for herself, they went into the living room and sat down on the couch. They both took sips of their pops and then set them down on the table in front of them and then turned towards each other.

'Gosh, how I've hoped for this...to be with her...no one in the way...What is it about her that I'm so drawn to?' Brian thought to himself as Katie just looked into his eyes smiling.

"So, which house do you live in? Is it just around the corner?" Katie asked as Brian was suddenly awakened out of his trance by her question.

"No actually. I live on Sheldon, but it's closer to the high school." He replied as she looks at him confused.

"Oh, I thought you lived just on the other side of the street!" Katie said as she laughed at her mistake.

Brian laughed to, as he realized where she actually meant. 'Gosh I love her laugh, I gotta tell some jokes...But which ones...'

"So, when can I see where you live?" Katie asked as he looked at her and said, "Uh, soon. I guess."

He had this look on his face that made her think she had said something wrong. 'I wonder what's wrong with that question? Maybe I'll go on to something else...'

"Hey, What do ya call a black guy on a bike?" Brian asked, confusing Katie for a second.

"Huh?" Katie asked.

"It's a joke, what do you think the answer is?" He said.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Katie replied laughing at herself again as she tried to think of a good answer.

"Give up?" He asked, and she shook her head saying, "I have no clue."

Brian leans towards her on the couch, coming to within a foot of her face and smiles. Katie leans back a tad wondering what he's doing when he says, "A thief."

Katie sits there for a split second and just takes in the look on his face and realizes that he had just given her the answer. Katie then starts laughing really hard and Brian laughs along with her. "More! That was great! You know any more jokes? I love jokes!"

"Ok, let's see...Whatta ya call it when you get a bunch of black guys jumping out of a plane?" Brian asked as Katie just sat there and thought for a second.

"I don't know."

"Night." Was the simple reply, and that's all it took to get Katie rolling.

"Ok, I got one!" Katie shouted as she smiled ear to ear..."What does a roll of toilet paper and the Starship Enterprise have in common?"

Brian sat there and watched Katie smile at him while he tried to find the similarity. "Hmmmm, couldn't tell ya." Brian replied. Then Katie started laughing.

"They both fly around Uranus looking for Klingons!"

Brian just sits there and stares at her and then as he figures it out and laughs, "I love Star Trek! That was a good one! Where did you hear that one?"

"My dad heard it from a friend, I guess." Katie replied as Brian asked, "you like Star Trek?"

"Yeah! I like both the new and the old!"

"Me too, but I like the Next Generation better though." Brian said.

Suddenly, a vehicle pulled up in the driveway, catching the attention of the two teens. Katie stood up to look out the window to see who it was and saw it was indeed her parents. She mentioned it was time to go and Brian stood up and Katie grabbed her purse off the table and turned the lock before closing the door as they left the house for their first date.

The teens climbed into the back of Katie's parent's 1984 Suburban and then they were off. Katie introduced Brian and her parents as they drove to the movie theatre. Katie was nervous, but excited. She never thought she'd actually get the chance to go on a date with Brian. They talked all the way to the next town where Countryside Theaters was, and they went and got their tickets. Katie's parents thought it was cute how they were still going on their date, even though neither of them knew how to drive.

Katie's parents decided to see the movie Nine Months while the teens went to their theater to see Mortal Kombat. Katie and Brian liked the fact that they were alone, and in the dark. It felt cool knowing her mom and dad weren't there to see them watch the movie. The movie was cool. Katie was surprised by the fighting. She had never seen fighting like that before, and she got scared a few times. She especially didn't like the guy that had the snakes coming out of his hands.

Brian enjoyed being in the dark next to the girl he had missed so much during that long summer. She was so animated in her reactions, and she got so into the movie that she even grabbed onto his arm a few times out of fright. Yeah, definitely the perfect movie to bring her to on their first date. when she latched on to his arm the second time, he reached his arm around her shoulders and held her close as the two characters battled it out in the arena.

Once the movie came to an end, the teens walked out into the lobby and waited for Katie's parents to come out so they could leave. As they waited, Brian noticed the Neo Geo machine next to the door and decided to pull out some change. Katie watched Brian with intrigue as he asked her if she wanted to play.

"No, I'll just watch you, I don't know how to play Bubble Bobble." Katie replied as Brian walked up to the machine and threw in the change. 'This should be interesting...' Katie thought as she watched him work the controls.

Brian played for ten minutes when Katie's parents came out of the movie and they walked up to the teens as they were entranced in the video game. Katie's mom tapped Katie on the shoulder and gestured towards the bathroom with a smile on her face.

"I'll be right back, Ok Brian?" Katie asked and Brian shook his head as he concentrated on his game, Katie's dad intrigued by what Brian was doing.

"So, how'd it go? Was the movie good? Any funny business?" Katie's mom asked with a smirk.

"Everything went great. I don't think the movie's up your alley, mom, but he was a perfect gentleman." Katie replied as she found a stall and closed the door.

Once the ladies came out of the restroom, they all left the lobby and trekked off through the crowded parking lot to the truck. The ride home was filled with talk about the two movies and how they enjoyed them and how much fun it was that they had done that.

While Katie's mother rambled on about the strange things that went on in the movie, Brian looked over her way. Katie noticed out of the side of her left eye, and she turned her face towards Brian and smiled. He smiled at her and then she felt something touch her hand. She looked down to see Brian grab her hand and hold on to it. Just the touch of his hand sent tingles up her arm and to her spine, leading all through her body. Just that simple gesture had thrown her such sensations she had never felt before. Yeah, she had held hands with her other boyfriends, but this felt different for some reason.


	11. Pizza and the Tramp

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Yeah, yeah...I know, weird chappie name, but ya know what? That's what it is, ok? So deal with it!!!! XP Well, what more do you want? This is the longest chappie since the prologue, and there's plenty of fluff, and yumminess. Anyways, just R&R.

**Chapter 11: Pizza and the Tramp**

Well, the date went well, and Katie couldn't get it out of her mind when he left her that night. She laid there on her bed remembering the previous night, how much of a gentleman he was. She remembered the touch of his hand as they rode back to her sister's house to get his bike. She'd never felt that much from just a simple touch from a hand before that moment. No matter how she thought about how odd it was, she reminded herself that this is reality and that it's nothing to get all riled up about. She still couldn't ignore how strange things were between the first time she met him and that moment. 'Things like this just don't happen! Not to ordinary people like me.'

**Flash back**

The suburban pulled up into the driveway, coming to a stop and letting out the two teens. Katie climbed out first, then Brian jumped down and closed the door. Katie then said goodnight to her parents as they drove home, leaving Katie to look after her sister's house for the night. Brian followed her into the quiet house.

"I really had fun! Thanks for asking me to the movies, Brian."

"Yeah, it was great, wasn't it?"

"Well, I don't know when you need to be home, but I'm just gonna be here watching the house for the entire weekend. You can come over anytime you like." Katie said as she put her purse on the table and turned to look at the young man standing in the doorway.

"Well, I don't really have a curfew, you mind if I stay for a little bit?" Brian asked with a fidgety look in his eyes.

"Sure, have a seat, or would you like something to eat, or drink?"

"What?! After all that popcorn and pop?" Brian said with a smirk on his face.

"Well, I didn't really have a real dinner, and I'm still hungry. Popcorn never fills me up."

"Oh, ok. Well, I'm fine. You can eat if you like. It won't bother me." Brian said as he sat down on the sofa.

"Ok, I'll be right back." Katie said as she turned into the kitchen and started up the oven for a frozen pizza.

"So, what do you wanna do while we're here?" Brian asked as he took in the living room with his eyes as he sees the huge entertainment center along the wall. 'Man, talk about 100 remotes!' He thought to himself as he thought about trying to see if he can get the TV going.

Katie put the pizza in the oven and set the timer. As she came into the living room, she noticed him sitting Indian style on the floor with a bunch of remotes around him, trying to figure out which goes to which. 'How cute!' Katie thought as she walked up and kneeled down next to him and picked up the remote for the TV and pushed the button as the tube lightened the room. She turned her face to look at him, and noticed he was looking at her with shock.

"How did you find the right one?" Brian said with surprise.

Katie giggled and pointed out that it had the same brand name as the TV on it. Brian just shook his head as Katie giggled at him again. They put away the remotes and then they made their way to the sofa.

"I'm making a pizza, you can have some if you like." Katie mentioned as she sat down and set down her pop. "Oh! You want one?" Katie asked as she pointed to her can of pop.

"No, thanks though. I'll get one when I'm thirsty." He replied as he turned back to the TV.

"Ok." Katie shrugged and just sat there next to him as they both watched Start Trek: the Next Generation. They both sat at the sides of the couch, with a cushion between them. Katie looked at him and noticed the distance between them, recalling the small distance between them at the theater. She wondered why they had kept a distance between them since they got back when the oven rang for the pizza to be ready. "Be right back." Katie stated as she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen; a bit of rouge in her cheeks.

Brian sat there and watched the TV as he felt that he couldn't eat with those pesky butterflies in his stomach. 'Man I feel uncomfortable while we're here in this house alone. I can't let myself get close, I may lose it!' Brian thought to himself as he noticed where he was sitting and how far away he was from where Katie was and noticed that he wasn't nearly as nervous about being close to her as he is now. Then a noise caught his attention as she came stepping into the room. He watched her as she sat down, and set the plate in her lap as she just started eating and watching TV like she was comfortable. As if he wasn't even there.

'Hmmm...I wonder if she's nervous to...' Brian thinks to himself as he just intensifies his stare as she eats. Katie then looks over at him with a piece of pizza crust sticking out of her mouth as she chewed. The look on his face made her choke on her food as she noticed he was staring as if he was really concentrating on something. If her cheeks were only mildly blushed, they were beet red now!

Brian got upset as he saw her grab her plate and let the rest of the crust drop to her plate as she choked. He patted her back and tried to console her as she cleared her throat. She grabbed for her drink and coughed a few more times. Once her throat was clear, she turned to him and laughed really hard.

"You ok?" Brian asked as she just lost it right in front of him while pointing at him. Brian began to wonder if she'd gone off the deep end.

"Yeah...I'm all right...I 't get over...The look on your face!" Katie replied as she laughed.

"Phew, you scared me for a second there."

"Well, it was your fault!" Katie accused as she righted herself and grabbed the rest of the crust on her plate.

"Sorry. You weren't paying any attention to me, and I just wanted to see what you'd do. I didn't know I'd make you choke though."

"It's all right, but I'll never forget that look you were giving me, that was genuine!" Katie said once again as she chuckled under her breath.

They both sat there on the couch, 'til Brian realized he wasn't so nervous anymore, and he decided to go to the kitchen and get a plateful of pizza for himself. Katie watched him step off into the kitchen and she shook her head to get rid of those weird vibes she was getting off of him after his staring. 'What was he thinking? What would make him look at me like that? Why was that look so familiar?' She shook her head again and resteadied herself as she saw him walk back into the living room with a plateful of pizza and a coke. He sat down once again at the other side of the couch and then opened his coke and took a long swig. He started pulling the same thing she did, where he didn't even acknowledge her presence.

Katie decided to watch the TV and eat the rest of her pizza and they sat there for a few minutes, not even paying each other any attention. Both of them playing the ignoring game as their nerves snuck in again. Once they were both finished with their pizza, they both put their plates on the table in front of them as the show was ending. Katie adjusted her position as she put her legs off to the left side, placing her feet next to Brian's cushion. He noticed the movement to his right and then turned and looked when it stopped, noticing a pair of feet next to him. She had been wearing sandals that day, and didn't wear any socks.

'Her feet must be cold. Maybe I should find out.' He thought as he reached beside him and grabbed her cold left foot and dragged it towards him and laid it in his lap as he vigorously rubbed his hands together to create warmth.

Katie felt his hand grab her foot and she automatically turned her head his way and watched as he warmed her foot with his warm hands. Once the left foot was warm, he then grabbed her right foot and repeated the action, causing her to lay herself down on the couch with her head against the arm rest and watched him warm her feet and then massage them afterwards.

After the massage was over, he just laid her calves across his lap and held each foot with his hands, keeping them warm. He then looked over at her and noticed she was staring right at him with the warmest eyes. 'God, she's beautiful. How did I get her attention so easily?' He thought to himself as he asked, "You have a blanket anywhere?"

"Yeah, hold on." Katie replied as he stopped her from moving.

"No, I'll get it, don't get up. Just tell me where one is."

"Oh, well there's one on the bed in the bedroom on the left just up the hall."

"Ok, I'll be right back." He replied as he got up and walked towards the bedroom.

When he got back, he pulled the blue, soft blanket from it's folds and laid it over her bare legs. Then he grabbed her legs and lifted them up as he sat himself down under them, wrapping the feet up gently, keeping her warmth to her body. He not only didn't mind her legs across his lap, but he held them as he sat comfortably and watched the TV while the movie, Hook started.

"Ooo!!! My favorite movie! I love Robin Williams!" Brian exclaimed as he looked Katie's way for her reaction.

Katie smiled and said, "I love Robin Williams too! He makes me laugh. I also like this movie, but I'm not fond of the Disney original."

"Really? The Peter Pan story is one of my favorites. I watched that one all the time when I was growing up."

"Oh, I like it too, but not as much as the others. I thought it was too cartoony."

"Oh. I can understand that. I just like it for the story." Brian said as they both sat in silence and watched Robin Williams make light of himself being Peter Pan.

Once the movie ended, Brian looked at the clock and noticed that it was after midnight. He looked over towards Katie, and noticed that she had closed her eyes. Brian sat there and watched her sleep for a couple of minutes. Then he decided to lift her legs slightly and put them on the couch as he moved. He kneeled down beside her and listened to her breathe as she slept.

Brian looked at her face and tried to remember every curve, every eyelash and the shape of her black eyebrows while she slept. Wondering what she was dreaming about. As he stared at her face and watched her chest rise and fall at every breath out of the corner of his eye, she began to stir and noticed he was no longer under her legs.

Katie turned her head and opened her eyes and saw Brian kneeling next to her. "I'm sorry; I don't usually fall asleep watching TV." She said as she got up into a sitting position on the couch.

Brian the stood up and said, "Well, I guess I'd better get going. I'll see you again?"

"Yeah, how about tomorrow? I'll be here all by myself again. We can jump on the trampoline."

"What?! Your sister has a tramp? Dude! Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Well, I was in a dress and I figured it would be safer to jump on it during the day." She replied.

"Oh. O.k., that's fine. So, what time should I come by?"

"Here, call this number and I'll let you know when. I don't plan on waking up early." She said as she pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the number to her sister's house.

As she handed the number to him, he thanked her and they walked into the garage to get his bike. They walked together out of the garage and stopped after they arrived outside. Brian turned to her and said, "I had a really great time tonight. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too. At least I won't be house sitting alone. Thanks for the date, it was sweet." Katie said as he lifted himself on his bike and put his foot on the drive way so he could look at her one more time before rolling away.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Katie."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Brian."

He then peddled off down the street and disappeared out of sight in the night.

**End of Flashback**

Katie looked over to the clock next to the bed. The digital numbers reading 11:00am, Katie then sat up and pulled back the covers. To think that Brian would be joining her again for the day. As her feet touched the floor, she began to wonder what will happen next after he comes by to spend the day with her. She was a bit nervous. She bit her lip as she smiled thinking about how sweet he is compared to all her other boyfriends. 'He is such a gentleman, I can't wait to find out more about him' she thought to herself as she searched through the closet for an outfit to wear. Picking out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, she walked over to her bag and pulled out her unmentionables and toiletries and then padded off to the bathroom, hoping that he waits at least a half hour while she showers.

As the warm water hits her chest, she thinks about how much fun it will be to jump on the trampoline with him. That voice of his as he sings going through her head as she cleanses her skin. 'sigh wish I could take a bath and splish splash' she thinks to herself as she giggles over the crazy thoughts going through her mind. He treated her with the utmost gentleness, and showed her pure emotion, not the kind a normal high school guy would show to a girl. The fact that he was shy was cute. She did not want to get involved with someone like Jason again. Even though she'd probably never be able to forget what Jason meant to her all those years ago, she knew he had changed drastically after he had told her he had lost his virginity. Brian, seemed innocent, like her. That's what attracted her to him. He didn't treat her like a piece of meat, and he was funny. He definitely reminded her of what they called Aladdin, "the diamond in the rough".

As she got out of the shower and dried herself off, she heard the phone ring. She quickly wrapped the towel around her nakedness and ran out of the bathroom towards the living room. She picked up the phone just before the answering machine could pick up. "Hello?" Katie asked into the receiver.

"Hey, Katie, it's Brian."

"Hi! Good morning. You caught me just in time. I'm getting ready. I should be ready in a little bit."

"Okay, so how about I come by at say 12:30? I'll bring lunch, sound good?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I have food here." Katie said as she glanced at the clock, being 11:20.

"Naw, it's alright. What kind of food would you like from West Gyros?"

"Um...I would like a plain Gyro, with just the sauce and some fries. I still have plenty of drink here, K?"

"Okay, sounds great! I'll be there in a few!"

"See ya then! Bye!" Katie set down the receiver onto the cradle and then hustled back into the bathroom to get ready.

The doorbell rang and Katie and Zeke rushed towards the door to let Brian in. Katie stepped aside and tried to hold Zeke back by the collar as Brian gave him a few pets on the head. As Katie let go of his collar, Zeke then rolled over onto his back exposing his belly for a good rub down from his new friend. Since there wasn't much room between the three or them, Zeke almost knocked Katie backwards. As Katie teetered for balance, Brian reached out and steadied her so she could adjust her footing without hitting her head on the shelf on the wall behind her.

"Thank you." Katie said as she got her footing.

"No problem, just didn't want you to hit your head."

Brian then saw it safe to kneel down and give the pooch a nice short rub down. Seeing as how Zeke was not gonna harm or knock Brian over, she stepped over the dog's haunches and then walked further into the living room. To think, they had only met less than a year ago, and they are here together like they had been friends for years. He was familiar to her the moment she first saw him, and his demeanor as a guy is different. 'I have got to meet his family, they've done a wonderful job in raising this guy. I wonder what his mom is like...' Katie thought to herself as she sat down on the couch and enjoyed watching the 'diamond in the rough' pet the biggest baby in the world who, strangely enough, goes by the nickname 'Petunia'.

Brian finally had rubbed Zeke's belly enough, and turned to look at Katie and walked over to sit on the couch, leaving a cushion between them, once again. Katie looked down at his hands and saw that the dander from the ratweiler had turned his nails and fingers black. 'Man, he needs a bath, bad!' she thought to herself as she grabbed hold of his left hand and said, "Uh, you should wash your hands, he's a bit dirty and in need of a bath, I guess."

Brian looked at his hand and saw his black fingernails and said, "Ok, I'll be right back."

As he got up and walked into the kitchen to wash his hands at the kitchen sink. Katie got up and followed him as the water started. She then stopped at the kitchen table and watched him as he cleaned his hands. When he was finished, he turned to her to see her pointing out the window at something. He looked out the window, and saw the jumbo sized round trampoline, and his eyes got wide. "Wow!" he said as he walked past Katie and the table, slid the door open, stepped out onto the patio and ran towards the tramp.

Katie then walked out and casually slid the glass door shut before heading towards the tramp. She was delighted in how he looked like a big kid while looking at the tramp, and watched him pry his shoes off, crawl onto it and start to jump. She walked up to the table and chairs set up a few feet away and sat down and watched him have fun. He was gaining height at great ease when he suddenly slowed down his jumping and asked her to join him. Katie shook her head and just sat there, as his momentum slowed to just an up and down motion, and he climbed off to walk towards her.

"Come jump with me, it'll be more fun!" Brian said as he held out his right hand and hoped she'd give hers in return.

"No, it's not safe. Plus, you have more mass than me, it could launch me way too high!"

"Oh, c'mon! I won't let you get hurt, I swear! I want to enjoy this with you, not by myself. I came here to spend the day with you." He exclaimed as he looked her straight in the eyes, showing he truly meant what he said.

"Okay, but if we get too high, then we'll have to stop. I just want to be careful."

"It's ok, I can take any punishment to make sure you're safe." He said as he grabbed her hand and walked her over to the tramp. He helped her with her shoes, lifted her up and then waited 'til she was sitting on the other side, and then he crawled up across from her and sat. "Ok, I'll get up first, otherwise you might fall over."

Katie waited while he stood and then she got up and tried to balance herself. She nodded when she was ready and then he started out with a small jump. Trying to keep the timing down right, they made sure that they jumped at different times, and not together. As they jumped, Brian launched Katie up higher and higher 'til she was high enough to feel like she was flying and started screaming. He slowed down, and then she was able to slow enough to stop and catch her breathe. One thing she forgot to tell him, was that she could only do this so long before her asthma got the best of her. 'Whomever invented asthma, I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna kill him!' Katie thought to herself as she sat down and struggled to calm her breathing. It's so much fun, and she has the best time on the tramp, but having to limit that time, hurts the soul.

"Maybe we should take a break, and eat the food I brought, huh?" Brian said as she struggled to find her breathe.

"Yeah...Okay...Hold on...Just for a...Second..." Katie replied between breathes, and Brian just sat down next to her and rubbed her back and she tried to calm her lungs down and relax.

They had only jumped for about 10 minutes when she started to struggle. Not much for fun. She wanted to spend the day with him on the tramp, and have some fun, but she also wanted to get to know Brian as well. When the light bulb in her mind turned on once her breathing slowed enough she said, "Well, we can rest in between jumps and talk and get to know each other or watch movies and stuff throughout the rest of the day and evening. How does that sound? I just can't handle long amounts of time on the tramp I guess."

"That's fine with me. I enjoy jumping, but you're health is more important." Brian said as he continued to rub her back, hoping she would be all right through those multiple jumping appointments. "Are you feeling better now? Is the back rub helping?"

"Yeah, thanks. That's one of my favorite things in the world. I love how it feels when my back is tickled. My mom and I do each other's backs all the time. It helps us relax after a hard day. Same with our feet. We both stretch out along the length of the couch and tickle each other's feet, and we're able to calm down easily after that." Katie explained as he continued to rub her back as her eyes closed.

"Ok, let's get inside before our food goes cold." He said as he helped her up and helped her balance herself as she climbed down off the tramp. They then walked side by side towards the kitchen door.

As they got into the kitchen, Katie then went into the living room and grabbed the food off the hall table and walked back towards the kitchen, where she saw Brian washing his hands again. She set the food down on the counter and then washed her hands to make sure she didn't get dirt on the plates she was planning to grab from the cupboard. Brian then went through the bags of food and set aside the meals.

Katie then thought of something as she grabbed their drinks from the fridge. "Hey, where did you store your bike when you arrived? You didn't ask me to open the garage for you this time." Katie said as she handed him a pop.

"Oh, sorry. My mom dropped me off. She said she'd come pick me up later if I didn't stay too late. I can walk home though. It's not that far. I just didn't want to have to carry these bags while I'm riding my bike is all." He replied as he shrugged and took a sip of his pop.

"Oh, okay then. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't left where it could get stolen." Katie said as she pulled her gyro out of its Styrofoam container and spread the sauce on it.

As they ate, they talked every now and then between bites and talked about things they hadn't had the chance to mention during gym class earlier that year. They got along well and they had a good time doing nothing but talking, as the day flew by. They periodically jumped on the tramp and went back into the house to relax and watch flicks and talk. They got to know each other better throughout that day, and Katie noticed that she had grown so accustomed to him being near that she couldn't imagine not having him in her life.

During one of their conversations in the house, Brian asked if she had paper and a pencil handy. She directed him into the office. He grabbed a few pages, a pen, and a book. He then proceeded back to the living room and then sat down on the floor, and rested the book and paper on his lap and started to work on something. Katie walked over to him and sat down on the couch and watched what it was he was doing. To her surprise, he was drawing a picture. Of whom, she didn't know, but to her, it looked like a doodled version of a Sonic character. She watched him silently until he finished the cute little character and then he handed it to her.

"He's cute! You're really good. Do you take classes?"

"Yeah, but only when I have extra hours to be filled in my schedule. I took one when I was a freshman, and I don't think I did too well in it."

"Aw, c'mon! You have a talent I'll never have! You should honestly go into cartooning, ya know, like comic strips and stuff."

"Nah. My strength in art is performance. I love to sing the most, but I also love to act."

"I'm the same way! I can't draw worth a darn though. Unless you need a stick figure jumping through a field of grass on top of a hill, with the sun shinning brightly and a rainbow gracing the sky."

"Ha ha ha! I bet you have better talent than that, you just don't try." Brian said as he picked up the picture he just drew and crumpled it up into a ball and through it in the little wicker garbage can by the couch.

"What did you do that for?!" Katie exclaimed as she reached over into the little basket and pulled out the drawing he just showed her and flattened it out again.

"I don't keep my art. It's not that good anyways." Brian shrugged as he looked nonchalantly at Katie trying to flatten out the creases in the paper.

Brian shook his head at the effort Katie was putting into this drawing's care. He decided to get her mind off of the worthless piece of violated paper and leaned in close to her with a smirk on his face. Katie finally noticed the close proximity of his face and looked up into his eyes. "What?" Katie asked as he just stayed there looking into her eyes, not saying a word.

He leaned back finally and shrugged as he said, "I'm still here, ya know. It's just a doodle. Plus, I think it's strange how you care that much for something I can draw over and over again. It's just not a challenge for me. I don't find much interest in something that's not much of a challenge." He said as he picked up his pop and took a swig.

"Oh. I didn't know. I've just never seen an artist not satisfied with his talent before. Most artists like to show it off, not belittle it. It's just odd, that's all." Katie replied as she got this disappointed look on her face. She thought he should treasure such a God given gift, but he was a contradiction in this day and age. He acted old fashioned and he grew up knowing how to treat a lady and show her respect, when in this age, the guys expected their women to respect them instead.

They talked and jumped on the tramp a couple more times and then it came time for Katie to get to bed. It was after 11:30pm, and she needed to be up the next morning for church and she knew she wouldn't wake up in enough time if she didn't get to bed by midnight. So, Brian then decided to walk home and let her get some rest. As he was walking towards the front door, Katie in tow, he turned to her and said, "Thanks for such a great day. Are you still going to be here tomorrow?" as he grabbed hold of her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb.

"Well, I have church 'til about noon and then my sister and her husband will be back at around 2, so I won't be here the rest of the day after I leave for church." Katie said with a shrug. "You can always come by my parent's house, if you want."

"Well, I don't know where you live. Is it far?"

"Well, it's about five minutes from here. You know where West Plaza is, right?"

"Yeah, I know that area." He said as he looked away thinking.

"I live on Almond Drive, off of Illinois Ave near Orchard. Number is 780."

"Ah! I know where that is, ok. I'll meet you at your parent's house then. I'll call ya tomorrow afternoon, okay?"

"Okay, I'll talk to ya later, then. I had a great time today too." Katie said as Brian stood there with her hand in his. 'What's he gonna do? He's not moving...Is he gonna kiss me?' she thought to herself as he then just looked down at her hand and then released it and said with a smile, "See you tomorrow then, Katie."

Katie was stumped and couldn't say a word as he turned and then walked out the door. 'One whole week and no kiss. All he's done is held my hand. Wow...Why?' she thought as he started walking away from the door. She then stepped out the door and called his name. He turned around and stepped closer and then stopped a bit away waiting for what she had to say. "Thank you for the food, and I can't wait to spend time with you tomorrow." She said with red cheeks.

He smirked and said, "Yeah, me too. I can't wait to see where you live."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see yours as well, but only when you're ready."

Brian looked down and said, "We'll see. I'm not really excited about showing you though."

"Why not?" She asked as she let the screen door close as she stepped out onto the porch.

"Well, I just don't want you to know, that's all...Look, it's getting late, and I don't want you to miss church. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" He said as he gave her that 'don't ask' look, and then smiled as he waved and turned towards the driveway.

Katie said goodbye to him and he did the same. She then watched him as he walked further and further away until his form disappeared in across the street. Once she couldn't see him anymore, she walked back into the house and locked the front door. She thought on how much fun they had, and all the things they talked about. She learned that his family is big, and he's one of five children. He is the second oldest among them, and how he's not completely close with them all. He has two younger sisters and one older brother by nine years and a younger brother who was the latest born among them all. Wow. Katie couldn't imagine having that many brothers and sisters, and she thought it was annoying having the sister she has. When she asked him about his home, he seemed to close up, and not want to reveal anything. It seemed like a touchy subject, but she couldn't fathom why. She decided to ask him more tomorrow to see how long it will take for her to break down that wall he's built up. 'I guess he doesn't know yet that I don't judge others' she thought to herself as she got dressed in her pajamas and set the clock as she got herself ready for bed. With a relaxing sigh, she closed her eyes, and arrived in the land of nirvana for a few hours.


	12. A Hard Past

**I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.**

Nice long chappie last time, huh? Well, this one will be quite a rival of that last one. It turned out to be much longer than expected, but it is important to the plot, and I know you'll like the ending, for sure! Please R&R.

**Chapter 12: A Hard Past**

Well, the next day, Katie woke up early for church at 9:00 am. She walked into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal. As she went through her routine of making her meal, she thought about spending more time with Brian. The previous day was a lot of fun, but what would today hold? As Katie sat in the living room, watching the Weather Channel, she thought about his reaction to her wanting to know where he lives. How he set up a wall around himself to protect his thoughts from her. She had never seen him that shy before. Not even when he braved asking her out earlier in the year. 'Huh, you'd figure he'd be more worried about me rejecting him, than me seeing his house and family' she thought as she saw that the day was forecasted to be beautiful.

She couldn't get it out of her head, not even an hour later, and she waited for her parents to arrive, sitting in her dress all dolled up for church. She participated in the choir and the bell choir during the services on Sunday mornings. Katie was the kind of worshipper who can't just sit there and listen; she loved to be a part of the service. She had attended other churches, and none of them needed her to be a part of the service, so she felt like a number. One thing she had always wanted to do was to help spread the word. She had attended one church that was one of those huge churches where the services were held for over 1,000 people, and the sanctuaries were not like the usual chapel or house of God, but auditoriums with seating like for a theatrical show on Broadway. If she had ever felt like a number, it was in a church like that. The church her mother's side of the family usually went to was that type of church.

The last time Katie and her family went there, they went to go see a production the church drama club was putting on for Easter. There were reserved tickets and seats for all of them. When they arrived just a tad late, her father dropped them off at the door and went to park the sub. Well, he had a long walk back, while they wondered where he had disappeared to, when the play started, the lights went down and still no dad. They didn't see hide nor hair or him until on their way out of the huge theater and saw him sitting on this couch, waiting for them with a scowl on his face. It turned out that once he walked into the lobby, the show had started and the doors were locked. A lady said he had to watch the production out in the lobby through the little TV's mounted on the ceiling. The lady's exact words were, "You'll interrupt the show if you go in now, and you're too late."

Humph, was her reaction to that. Her father had paid for his ticket, which by the way should have been free with it being a church function, and he had to be kept out of God's house because he was late. Wow, yeah. Well, the church she would be participating in that day would never turn a believer away, whether or not they were late. She could be a part of the service, and it felt like she was a part of a big family. She would be singing in the choir and playing bells that morning and yes, she was a busy girl on Sunday mornings, but she felt it was worth it because she had the chance to use her gifts to spread the word, which has always meant the world to her. As she heard the horn of the suburban, she turned off the TV and grabbed her purse. She locked the door and then ran to her parents to go worship.

When the Lindens returned home, they felt filled with the word, and at peace. Katie was happy, and felt she had learned quite a bit from the pastor's word during that service. About a half hour later the phone rang and Katie's mother picked up the phone. Katie rushed into the kitchen just as her mother spoke into the receiver, wondering if the call was for her. Katie's mother was silent and then looked over to Katie, and said, "Yes, she's right here, hold on" As she handed Katie the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me." Brian said into the receiver as he sat down in the recliner.

"What's up?"

Brian muted the TV in the living room as he said, "Is it still ok if I come by? I mean its okay with your parents?"

"Oh, yeah. It's not a problem. Plus, you'll get to see my house and we can hang out in the back yard too, if you want." Katie replied as she twisted the phone chord around her finger.

"Okay, how soon should I come?" He asked as he rocked in the recliner.

"Well, we just got home not to long ago, and I have to get changed into something more comfortable. If you leave now, it'll be ok."

"Okay, see you in a few."

"Bye"

Click

Katie then rushed off to her room to get changed out of the dress, and into jean shorts and a t-shirt. She had no idea what they were going to talk about, or what they were going to do, but there were a number of options and they could even go for a walk around the neighborhood. Even though they had known each other for a while, it seemed like they had known each other for longer than just six months. She still had butterflies in her stomach and the excitement was just heightening in the fact that she never imagined she would ever get the chance to date him. She worked quickly, and she came out to the living room to wait for him, and watch some TV with her dad. Wow, Discovery Channel all the way, and it just has to be the program on the 'Dung Beetles'. Katie sat down and saw what he was watching, and just shook her head as she just tried not to pay attention to the nasty taste that had formed in her mouth suddenly when she saw the bug close-up on the screen working on a ball of dung...'Yuck...And this is interesting, how?' Katie thought just as the doorbell rang and took her attention away from the violated screen.

Brian and Katie spent the afternoon talking, and she showed him her home and they petted her cats and her dog Duke Wellington of Earlville. Yes, that was his actual name. He was a wonderful Yellow Labrador Retriever. He was just beautiful, and had a wonderful personality. Brian had fun playing with him. They both became hungry after a little while, and they both decided they'd spend the day outside and took a walk to West Plaza, since it was just a couple of streets down from Katie's parent's house. They went for McDonald's and Brian decided he would pay. They had a nice lunch and decided to head back to the neighborhood.

On their way back, Katie was having flashes of memories of that neighborhood from when she was a child, and told Brian whatever memories she had to give him a better idea of who she was. He listened quietly and was interested in the lady next to him; the girl who he considered had stolen his heart without notice. As Katie talked on, pointing out spots of interest, certain houses that used to house close friends of hers, they began to enter certain parts of the neighborhood that held bad memories from her childhood. These memories left a bad taste in her mouth knowing he'd want to know what had happened to her chipper attitude.

When Katie suddenly went silent, Brian looked over inquisitively at her and saw that her face had gone sad. Her gaze had fallen to something that was too distant for even him to see. He wondered what she was gonna say next, or what could have made her demeanor fall so easily. He became concerned and put a hand on her arm and stopped walking to catch her attention. Katie felt the hand on her arm, and then turned to look at him and saw the concern on his face, the question in his eyes. She did not look away from that gaze. She couldn't look away, it held too much of her heart. She felt urged by that gaze to tell him what the problem was.

"What is it? Is there something wrong? You can tell me" Brian said as his hold fell to her hand and clutched it lightly.

"Well...I don't know where to start...I don't know if I CAN tell you" Katie responded as she broke the gaze and directed her eyes to the ground between them.

Brian reached out with his left hand and touched the tip of her chin, and lifted her head to look into her eyes. What he saw made him even more worried. She had teary eyes. She was about to cry. 'What is it that could make such a wonderful girl like her cry?' he thought to himself as he searched her eyes for a moment, and said, "Did something happen to you? Did something bad take place here? Tell me, please. I won't judge you." He said as his thumb rubbed away the tear that had cascaded down to her chin.

Katie stared into his eyes, and saw trust. Realizing he was not going to let them go any further from that spot, she decided to cave in.

"Well, when I was younger, this part of the neighborhood was not safe for me. You see...I have been sexually assaulted in my childhood by a couple of boys." Katie stated with shame appearing in her eyes.

Brian let his hand fall from her chin and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God, Katie. I'm so sorry. How often did this happen? Who did it?"

"Well, one of them I knew as a friend when I was a child. It happened while we were all playing a game called 'Boys Chase Girls' out in his front yard. Everything was going fine, until he put me in jail, and wouldn't let me go. When I fought him, things got out of hand. Luckily, my sister was there to stop him from raping me in front of all the other kids." Katie explained as her gaze fell on that same front yard, seeming to relive the experience again, as she suddenly got a bad taste in her mouth.

Brian once again, grabbed her chin, and directed her gaze to his as he looked at her with sympathy and asked, "What happened the next time? You did say a 'couple' of times, right?"

"Yes. I did. The next time I was assaulted was when I was 11 years old. It took place at this big park between the two subdivisions. There's this big playground area with a tree by it. My sister and I and quite a few of us kids used to play there all the time. I loved to climb the tree there. While I was just sitting on one of the branches of the tree, I noticed that three guys had walked up to the middle of the field. I turned and looked at them, and watched them play. I don't remember how it happened, but the oldest guy noticed I was sitting in the tree, and asked for me to come down. When I got to the ground, he walked up to me and sternly said that the area I were in was his territory, and that I had no right to be there. I told him that it was a free country and that I had every right to be there." Katie said as she once again looked away, and then walked to the curb and sat down.

Brian followed patiently and quietly. Once he was sitting next to her he said, "Continue, please?" Concern and curiosity evident in his voice.

That's when Katie looked up at him with fear in her eyes, and she swallowed very coarsely, and turned her eyes to the street in front of her. "Well, once he and I had argued for about ten minutes on whether or not I should have been allowed to roam and play in the area, he decided he wanted to introduce himself. His name was Lloyd Duns. Strangely enough, he was in high school, and the elder brother to Tim, one of my classmates. Tim was there with him, and another kid whom I figure was Tim's friend. Well, since we just kept arguing, and couldn't come to a conclusion, he decided that we would play a game. Who ever wins, stays. Who ever loses has to leave."

Katie cleared her throat as she reflected on what the game was and realized that she had forgotten it, since it wasn't that important anyways. She looked over at Brian, and he still watched her with interest on what she'd say next. "Well, I didn't understand the game, so we decided we wouldn't even try playing. So, he turned to me and asked me to follow him, and he said he needed to talk to me about something, in private." Katie then looked straight ahead at the road again as she relived that point in time in her head.

**Flash back**

Katie followed the tall young man as he walked back over to the tree she sat in not too long ago. He stopped by the tree and leaned his back against it and then turned his head to face her; his eyes watching her every move. Katie walked over towards the tree slowly, and kept her eyes on his as if to make sure he didn't try anything funny. Once she arrived just before him, shoulders squared, she looked at him with the look questioning his motives on her face. He looked her body up and down, as if judging her, or something.

"I have something to ask you." Lloyd asked with a serious tone.

Katie was shocked he wanted to know something about her, but politely asked, "What's that?"

"How old are you?"

"Uh...I'm 11, why?" Katie asked sheepishly, beginning to wonder where he was going with this...

"I was just wondering if you've ever been with a guy is all. You seem confident enough to not fear me; you obviously have some experience with guys. I just wanna know how much."

"Huh? What do you mean? Why should I be afraid of you? You expected me to cower like the poor damsel in distress? Act like a victim? Be easy prey? You're mistaken if that's what you honestly expected out of me." Katie retorted.

"Well, you know. 'Guys', what kind of experience have you had? Have you ever been kissed before?" He asked nonchalantly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Uh...I've had a lot of guy friends, but I'm too young to date. I'm only 11. So, no. I've never been kissed before. Why do you wanna know?"

"Because you have that certain something about you that suggests that you are not a coward when it comes to guys at such a young age. You're stand-off-ish when you should be naive. I'm surprised you've never been kissed before. You just got that shit about you that shows you know what you want out of a guy, and it shows that you are one who's not easily won over; a challenge. Now that's what I go for." He stated with a smirk to finish it off, crossing his arms across his sculpted chest.

"Huh...Well, think what you want, but I aint interested in you, you're in high school, right? You're way too old for me, and plus you are right in the fact that I do know what I want in a guy, and you just don't fit the bill." Katie snorted as she herself took her own smug stantz and smiled maniacally.

"Oh yeah? You don't know what you have, and you obviously need it pointed out to you, so you know how to use it." He said as he raised his right arm and motioned her to step closer to him. Katie reluctantly did as he asked, and waited to see what his next move would be. Katie had been wearing a tank top that day, and her chest had not developed enough to worry about a training bra as of yet, but she had enough there to be noticed by his gaze.

As he had full attention of her eyes, he did something she did not expect. He reached into the sides of her tank top and grabbed at her small chest and held tight. Katie gasped in utter shock and under his rough hold, just froze. She could not believe what was happening to her. As he did this he said, "You need 'these' to cuss."

Katie just stood there doing nothing. Out of fear of what he'd do if she struggled, especially with that strong a hold on her tender skin. She watched his eyes in fear for a few moments, and then added in a glare of anger at the violation. He noticed the anger in her eyes and then smoothly and gently let go, pulled his hands away, and smoothed down her top. He then leaned back up against the tree.

"Why did you do that? You realize I've never been touched there before? You're sick!" Katie snarled, knowing she can't erase what he had just done to her, and that she even trusted him.

He shrugged and just stepped closer and closed the distance between them and grabbed her chin, tilting her head up to look into her eyes. "You wanna learn how to kiss?"

She looked into his deceitful and untrustworthy eyes and said, "No, not with you. Especially after what you just did to me. You think I'm stupid?"

"It's simple really, here, just open your mouth." He said as he leaned in and covered her mouth with his. His mouth moved as he tried to gain entry into her mouth, but she kept her lips taught and would not open.

He pulled away and said, "I told you. You're supposed to open your mouth! It's called French Kissing!" He growled as Katie began to realize she had upset him, and he could do anything he wished to her if he so chose to. So, she decided to just brave the kiss and get this guy away from her. A mere sacrifice for escape was looking like a very good idea at the moment. 'Just give him what he wants and get away!' She thought to herself as she nodded in compliance and deeply swallowed her pride.

He then leaned in and their lips touched in a chaste kiss, and then became frenching. Honestly, Katie inwardly groaned at the fact that he was such a horrible kisser. She did not feel anything that she had always hoped she'd feel with her first kiss. A disappointment she would live with the rest of her life. The one reason why she would forever hate him. He kissed her passionately for quite sometime; seemed like forever to Katie with it being such a bad kiss. As he kissed her, she realized he had snaked his arms around her and had held her close to his body and had been feeling her back, putting as much of himself into the kiss as he could. 'Why would he put so much into this kiss? I'm only 11 years old! He can't be in love with me like this, we don't even know each other!' she mentally screamed as she suddenly felt something grow and harden against her tummy. As this happened, he only held her more passionately to him and it seemed like he'd never let her go.

When the kiss finally ended, she looked at him as if they had never even kissed. "That was it? What was that? Dang! I didn't even feel what I thought I would on my first kiss! You Suck!!!!" Katie shouted back at him. "You wanna see some balls? Well here they are! You are a sick Fuck!" Katie then turned and started to walk away as he ran up and grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against him as she struggled and shouted over her shoulder, "Damn it! Let me go, you sicko!" As he continued to hold her at will, she then gained control of her right arm and elbowed him.

"Ow! Damn, girl!" He shouted back as he winced from the pain she inflicted on a certain important organ, causing him to fall to his knees attempting to quench the pain.

"You deserved it, you Ass Hole! What is it you want from me? I'm a miner! You jerk! I told you I'm not interested in you! Damn it! I still play with Barbie's! You get off on that shit?"

He looked up at her and then looked back down at himself and gained his composure and then stood up straight, towering over her once again. Ten feet were all that separated them, and Katie wasn't about to let that space get any smaller. She stood ready for anything. She had been assaulted enough, and he was not getting the enjoyment of breaking her. She would never allow anyone to break her spirit, least of all that guy.

No matter how she tried to keep the distance between them equal enough for her to feel safe, he still stepped towards her and she began to panic. Then, to her dismay, he had her backed into a fence as he continued to close the distance between them. She then tried to snake away by side-stepping a bit to the left, to see if she could fake him out, and get away, but he just turned sharply and rushed towards her as she stepped backwards into a boulder and once again was cornered.

As he stepped closer to his prey once again, he smirked and kept eye contact with her and said, "Why are you so afraid of me now? I thought you couldn't be scared by me. You were all talk, weren't you, baby?"

Katie started to panic and didn't know what he was going to do next, and had no clue of how she could get away. Her heart was literally jumping up her throat, and she didn't know if she could take anymore violation. She had been looked at before by other males, and she had no idea what it was that was driving this guy to do this to her. She had done nothing wrong, right? All she was doing was sitting in a tree! Nothing more! She didn't ask for any of this, and yet she was being forced to have this experience. She just wished that a simple act of closing her eyes could be all she needed to get free from that evil approaching her. The fact that she fought and had come out unsuccessful still. How he had overpowered even her efforts to get away, or take control of the situation. She inwardly prayed that she'd find a way out.

She closed her eyes, hoping to escape the fear he had instilled in her when she felt the shadow he casted above her as the sun no longer shown on her skin. She could smell him close. She could feel him breathe on her face, feel his penetrating eyes gaze over her as she stood as rigid as a rock as he scrutinized her face. Her breathing had become labored, she was beginning to panic. She asked herself, 'why hasn't anyone seen any of this? Why isn't Tim stopping his brother from his perversion over me? Why doesn't anyone see my fear, my pain of being the victim?' as she started to whine and whimper at the touch of his hands on her bare arms rubbing up and down, trying to calm her and rid her of her goose bumps at feeling the perversion of his aura envelope her skin.

"Why are you so afraid of me? I don't mean to hurt you, Katie. I didn't mean for you to react this way. I guess I did go a bit too far, but I promise I'll stop if I'm scaring you. Are you really that afraid?"

His face was so close to hers, she felt every puff of his breathe from his nose and his mouth. His voice sounded sullen, and soft. He was peaking to her passionately. He was seducing her. His intentions had become evident at that moment by the tone in his voice. Katie was frightened. She may have been mature for her age, but that didn't mean she was ready for intimacy of that kind. She finally opened her eyes open to search his eyes to find out who it was looking through his eyes. Wondering if a young man his age and in his right mind could truly allow himself to do this to an innocent girl like her, when she did nothing wrong. All she did was express her true self. She didn't act like someone she's not. Something's not right.

As he inched his face in for another kiss, she ducked and punched him, causing him to be distracted and she ran for her freedom once again, but she found herself back at square one when the two other boys jumped on the bike she had with her, meaning her get away was cut-off. Then she felt those repulsive arms around her again. This time she bit him and he released her as he looked at his arm to see if she broke the skin.

"You Vampire!" He shouted when he saw the bite marks on his arm and Katie just smiled and said, "Yeah, well you did it to yourself! You keep wrapping that arm around me, it's gonna get bitten!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the corner by the rock once again, and said, "I am not letting you go until you tell me what's wrong, why you're fighting me! I'll keep you here all night if I have to!"

That's when she realized how long she had been held captive by that jerk-off! It was mid afternoon, or around there when he had arrived in that park, and it was starting to get dark. Dusk would be upon them soon, and her parents would be worried sick about her, and God only knew what that sicko would do to her at night. Granted, she was not all that far from home, but she couldn't just get away from him either. Now she was no longer afraid 'of' him, but of not getting back home to her family. That's when her focus and her fears changed. She began to be able to think straight again, and a strength she had forgotten about began to grow.

Katie looked away from him and then took a deep breathe and let it out, clearing her mind. "You really wanna know why I'm fighting you?" Katie asked him as calmly as she could, showing him she was finished fighting him.

"Yes, please. What did I do? What's wrong?" He asked as he turned her head to face him. He looked sincere and concerned strangely enough.

"Well...I want to go home because I've been gone since mid afternoon, and I can't be out after dark. I'm not mad at you. I just don't like being held against my will. Why are you holding me here like this? Is this like some strange way of getting a chance to spend some time with me? You think you need your cronies with you just to make sure I don't try to get away? You put me or any girl in a situation like that, and they will get the wrong idea. This reminded me of being held against my will and seemed more like a rape situation than any kind of 'Get to know you' session. I'm not afraid of you. I'm afraid of the situation you're putting me in. You understand?" Katie stated in a plain and simple way for his small mind to understand.

"Okay. I'll back off, but I still want to see you. How do I know I'll get the chance to see you again?" He asked as he raised his arms in frustration.

'Whoa...this guy's a nutcase...I'm not old enough for this, and he's like acting like he'd lose his chance with the prize of the day!' She thought to herself as she saw him pouting in front of her as if he was her puppy and she refused to feed him his favorite meal. 'Ha ha ha...this is the funniest situation I've ever been in...I can so turn this around and take advantage of this situation...' She thought to herself.

"Well, I can meet you tomorrow right around the same time. I have nothing planned, it is summer after all, and I don't have school. Should we meet here again?" She said as she genuinely smiled and fed him the look he had hoped to see.

"Well, actually...why don't we meet over by those bushes at the same time tomorrow? I have something I would like to show you." He said confidently with a smile, as if he had just gotten what he wanted...A promise of a good lay from a little girl...Yeah...Sick-Fucker.

"Okay, I'll see you then. Am I free to go now?" She asked with the pleading look of a captive.

"Yeah, you can go. See you tomorrow. Oh, and Katie...I just want you to know...I love you."

Just at the sound of those three words mocking what she had hoped had been the real reason behind her first kiss, she shuddered inwardly, but held it in so he would not suspect anything. Only, the reaction she released was, "I love you too."

As she was finally out of sight, she got off her bike and ran the rest of the way with her bike to her home, her haven. Her safety. She put her bike in the garage and then went in the house through the garage door into the kitchen. She then ran past her family eating dinner at the table and ran down the hall to her room, and slammed the door shut. She plopped down on her bed and just buried her face into her pillows and just screamed and wriggled and ran her hands over her body as if to get rid of the filth she felt all over her. Yes, she was now safe, but she felt so violated and dirty, she didn't even know if her soul could ever be cleansed from the grime she felt all over it. She was once pure, now she was tainted. She lost her first kiss, her innocence. She even cussed at him and called him names! She had never done that before! What had he done to her? She even lied to him! She planned to stand him up! This was not like her! Where did this maniacal personality come from?

A knock at her bedroom door brought her face out of her pillow, but she didn't bother to wipe the tears away. Her sister appeared in the doorway, worried about what may have happened to her little sister. If there was anything Katie was sure about, it was that her sister loved her very much. She loved her enough to confront any jerk to protect her, no matter how much of a scaredy cat she really was. Tabitha looked at her sister she walked over to the bed, and sat down next to her sister and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I...I got felt up...by this guy about your age...and he stole my first kiss...The only way I could get away from him was if I promised to meet him tomorrow...He...H-He said he loved me!" Katie exclaimed as she once again buried her face in her pillows and let her tears fall. "I was so scared Tabby! I don't know what it is about me! Why do guys do this to me? I mind my own business and they come after me like I'm some prize! I'm just a kid! What did he see in a flat chested, Barbie playing, little grade schooler like me?" Katie asked as she lifted her face out of the pillows and looked her older sister in the face, hoping she had an answer to her confusion.

"Well, you are very sweet, kind, and you don't tell lies, Katie. Evil jerks like him are always intrigued by the innocent and pure souls."

Katie looked at her like she was speaking in riddles, but she dismissed the strange answer and just laid her head back on the pillow and just relaxed under her sister's light tickle on her back. If there was any way to get Katie to calm down, or maybe even put her to sleep, is a nice back tickling session.

Tabby then asked, "You almost missed dinner. We've all been worried about where you were, or if you were even gonna come home. Dad was even thinking about taking Duke for a scavenging round of the neighborhood. C'mon, mom made roast beef hash...you're favorite."

"Okay." Katie answered as she sat up on the bed and hugged Tabby for her support. They both then walked out of the bedroom together, and sat down at the table and joined their parents for dinner.

Katie's parents asked Katie where she was and she told them the whole story, and told them how scared she was. They were proud of her strength, and her tenacity to fight back and not to let him break her. They were always happy at the fact that Katie never held anything back from them, no matter what had happened, or how embarrassing. They both knew they could trust their daughters to tell the truth proudly, and stay away from the wrong situations.

The next day, Katie did stand him up, but she went to see if the dope was still over by the bushes waiting for her. When she didn't see him, she proceeded to walk her dog, Duke. Duke was her protection. Katie was never a fast runner, but Duke could pull a Clydesdale! She could not go out without him after that incident the day before. She was told she did not have much time to be out walking the dog because she had a softball game she needed to be at in none too long, but she had to know what was gonna happen. So, dressed in her yellow and white softball uniform, she walked her dog Duke proudly. As she came around the corner where the bushes in question were, she saw him sitting on the front stoop of the last house on the block, surrounded by all the young kids in the neighborhood. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but if she was able to nonchalantly walk her dog across the street from him and he doesn't see his 'Golden Girl' walking her 'Golden' dog, then he was really telling a whopper to those kids. Since they hadn't noticed her, she figured it had nothing to do with her.

Well, not exactly. She watched the situation across the street very intently, to make sure that if anything happened, she would be able to jump at the ready and tell Duke to run. Suddenly, a kid turned around and yelled plain and loudly, "There she is! Lloyd! She's right there!" Katie saw his gaze shoot to her. A gaze of anger. He was mad. She saw them get up, and she right away yelled, "Duke! Run! C'mon, boy! Let's go!" Duke shot out like a bat out of hell, pulling Katie to safety. That wonderful dog ran like the wind, and they never even made it half way up the block before she reached her house, and had gotten through the front door and locked it, Tabitha there with her waiting for them to arrive at the house looking for Katie. Sure enough, they came. Only, a kid came up to the door and rang the bell. Katie looked through the window to make sure. She opened the door, and this kid asked if Katie could come out, 'because Lloyd wanted to talk to her. Katie refused and said that if they didn't get off the property, that she would call the police. The kid left to tell Lloyd that she would call the police on them. Katie's gaze could be seen through the lacey curtains hung over the front room window. Lloyd looked over her father's work van at her, reading her. She met his eyes with strength and promise. She would not falter, not for him. Never.

**End of flash back**

Brian sat there, and took all of this in. He hurt at her words of pain. It killed him to hear of her being violated just because of her purity. What really hurt him the most was hearing her say that she had to lie, and hurt him to get away. That she had to be strong enough to play along and LET him do those things to her to get away. Damn it! Why was he not present? Where was he? Oh yeah...That's right...He was in grade school, but he was busy standing up against the jerks in his neck of the woods. Then and there, he had decided he would protect Katie from guys like him. Protect her from the perverts of the world. And then what Jason did to her...it's a wonder she's still sane! How she's dealt with something as scary as that was beyond his comprehension. Even he couldn't ever allow a friend; stranger or any people for that matter ever touch her!

'But...Wait...Why is her purity so important?' he asked himself. He barely knew her, and yet he already felt the need to protect her. He had never felt such anger flare up in him over another, less even a girl. She was his first love, and he hasn't even tried to kiss her yet. And yet, can he after hearing that a nut case stole her first kiss from her? If he shares his first kiss with her, he promised himself he would make it the kiss of her life. Like her first kiss over again. He wanted it to be everything he is. The purity she feels she's been lacking since that terrible day.

Katie decided she had said enough, and said she wanted to get away from that area of the neighborhood, and get back home. They walked back to her parent's house hand-in- hand. The rest of the night was nice and calm as Brian and Katie joined her parents in watching a good flick. Once it got dark out, and the movie ended, Brian then said he had to head on home. Katie then walked him out through the garage to get his bike for him.

As he mounted his bike once again, he looked at her for a moment. Then he broke the silence by saying, "Come here." Katie was shocked for a second that he said that, but she stepped closer to him. He turned his head and connected his lips to hers in a very pure and loving kiss. The kiss was everything she had hoped a first kiss would be. Not needy, but passionate, loving, giving, and above all, it was pure. The connection of their lips brought tingles through her body that made her feel alive inside from head to toe. It was like she could feel his very soul connecting with hers through his lips. Sure, Jason wowed her, but this was what she truly wanted in a kiss. Truth be told, Brian gave her the first kiss she should have had back then, 'because he kissed her like no other man could ever kiss her. His first kiss was the best she ever had.


	13. How does it feel?

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Hey, everybody! Yeah, a sad one chapter 12 was, but this one reveals more on how both of our main characters feel about what was revealed about Katie's past. It will be in two parts, both mainly in first person perspective, until mentioned otherwise. Don't worry; I'm not planning on making every chapter that dismal. But once again, I will thank those close few friends who have inspired me to do what I enjoy doing now, and a very special thanks to those who review. Enjoy!

**Chapter 13: How does it feel?**

As I make my way home, I'm feeling a mixture of emotions. Guilt, fear for Katie, and sheer bliss at the touch of her lips. All I can hope for was that I made her feel good after she revealed so much to me. To see her face that melancholy, makes me angry. She tried so hard not to allow that guy to break her, but it seems like he did in the end. If she was staring off into space and was afraid of being where she was because of those two bastards, then they both succeeded in the end. I know nothing but love for her. A love I could never explain. The way she makes me feel, it feels like I've been around her for forever. Why?

That day when I first saw her, something inside me awakened, it seemed. I can't explain it. She's so beautiful, so pure, and so kind towards others, even her enemies. She's even been strong through the toughest of situations. She stands tall and proud, but yet; she's not hard to approach. No matter what flaws she reveals, she's still the most beautiful girl to me. I've never met any other girl like her. How did I attract her? Do I truly deserve her? I don't know, not after what I've done. Of course, she doesn't know about my past.

When she told me about what those bastards did to her, I just wanted to seek them out and give them what for, but what would that do for an idiot who doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground? Maybe what attracted them to do what they did is what has attracted me to her. Maybe it's her innocence. Nah, not that. She says how she feels straight out. She'll do what she must to get out of a sticky situation. Her purity? Hmmm...Maybe. I don't know. Whatever it is, it's not right to take advantage of it.

I will make sure that she knows my love for her is not needy, not boastful, and not greedy. She deserves so much more than I can give her. Why am I even trying to win her heart? She deserves better than even me. But one thing's for certain, I will not allow another man to touch her in any way that is offensive ever again. I will protect her from the jerks, the deviants, the molesters, and the cons. She deserves to be loved and loved well. I will treat her as well as I can. I will give my all to her, in the hopes she accepts me.

She has no idea how much I really love her, or even how long I've been in love with her. I have to tell her, but how? What if she says no? What if her heart is not open for me alone? Is she still hung up on Jason? Is she over him? She invited him to her sister's wedding. It's just too bad that we didn't keep in touch over the summer. I can't believe all that time wasted when we could have been together that whole time, and we could be further along than we are now. Why didn't we make the effort to keep in touch? Not knowing where she was the whole summer drove me and my buddy nuts the whole summer! Man, what I wouldn't give to be hers, and be loved by her for all eternity.

Wait! I can't believe I'm thinking that way already! How long have we known each other? Six months? And I'm already gone! Oh boy...I think she has stolen my heart because I can't lie to myself. What I can't figure out is why I feel so comfortable with her. From the first day we met 'til now, I've felt this way about us. Why is that? It doesn't make sense. I am still afraid to show her where I live. I hope she doesn't ask anymore. She would surely run away if she saw where I live. In the most run down part of the West Side of Aurora. I'm so embarrassed by my home, my family, and my life outside of high school. Outside of hers. She's so innocent, so clean. And her family is the most wonderful family I've ever met. I love her dad, he's awesome. I don't get along with my dad. I love my mom, as well as hers. My sisters don't care about me, my brothers could care less. I only have one real friend, Ted.

Well, I can talk to Ted later, and ask him what he thinks about all this. I'm confused, and a bit angry about what's going on. I can't believe that I love her that much, so easily and so quickly. What do I do? How do I tell her? I don't want to scare her away. That's the last thing I wanna do. I want to know everything about her. I want more chances to kiss her soft lips. I want to hold her close and tell her that in my presence, she's safe. After that kiss we shared, and putting my all into that kiss, I don't think I could ever kiss another girl but her. Somehow, for some reason, I feel I could go through Hell for her happiness. I guess my heart is no longer mine.

**End of first person perspective**

Brian finally reached home and jumped off his bike. He walked it up to the garage, and opened the door and walked his bike inside to lean it up against the wall. Once he got outside and locked the door to the garage, he used his key to open the door to the house, and walked in. His father was no where in sight, but he saw his mother sitting in the recliner watching PAX TV. He decided to join her in the living room and sat on the couch by the window.

"Hey, Bri. How was your day at Katie's?" His mother asked as he let out a sigh.

"Oh, great. We had a good time. Her family's really nice. Her mom's a lot like you actually. You should meet them sometime. I think you guys would get along well. I'll tell ya what, though, I love her dad. He's a great man."

"Oh yeah? That's great! So, when am I gonna get the chance to meet this young lady of yours?" She asked with a wink and a smirk.

"I don't know. I don't want her to see where we live." Brian said as he turned his gaze to the TV.

"Why not? What's wrong with where we live? Is she rich or something?"

"No, I don't think she's rich. I think she's more middle class."

"Then what's the problem? If she's a good girl with a great heart and personality, why would you have a reason to be afraid to show her who you are?" His mother asked inquisitively.

"I just don't want to lose her, that's all. I'm just being careful." Brian said as he looked at his hands and started to fidget with his nails.

"Why don't you sleep on it, and see how you feel the next time you see her. I have a feeling things will be all right with her. You are a special young man, sweetheart. I don't think that any girl who has stolen your wonderful heart could ever treat you as someone less than I have ever treated you. I know that because she is the first girl you've ever shown interest in, and from what you've said, she's special in her own way." His mother said as she looked him in the eyes and smiled genuinely.

"Okay, thanks Mom. I really appreciate that. I love you. Goodnight, Mom" Brian said as he stood up and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Sweetie. I love you too." She said as she hugged and kissed him back.

He then walked into his small room off to the side of the kitchen, and saw that his younger brother still hadn't come back yet. He got himself undressed, and crawled into bed, turning out the light and drifted into sleep, dreaming of his girl across town.

Meanwhile across town...That very girl walked into her house and then to her room to get ready for bed. As she sat on her bed, in her pajamas, Katie started to think to herself about that past evening with Brian, and other things.

**First Person Perspective**

Wow, what a kiss! I mean, I've kissed guys before, but none of those kisses ever felt like that. It seemed like he put his soul into that kiss. My body tingled all over! I felt like I was gonna go limp! But, for some reason, it seemed like I knew that feeling. That kiss was everything I had ever hoped a first kiss would be. I thought he said he'd never kissed another girl before! That kiss suggests otherwise. Hmmm...Either way, I feel better than I did when I was telling him about my past. What compelled me to do that? The look on his face was familiar somehow. Why is it that everything I notice about him is familiar? What on earth is going on here? This is just too fishy, but I love him. He's just too good to me, and I've only known him for a short time. Strange.

I couldn't tell him the second part of that incident; it would anger him more than he already was. I could see it in his eyes. His eyes are so easy to read. I've never seen a pair of eyes that hid nothing. There was something there, something he was afraid of, what could it have been? He hasn't shown me or told me much about himself. He's mainly interested in me. It's been all about me, not him. Why is that? I wonder what he's trying to hide. It can't be that bad, whatever it is. He seems too nice. I don't know, but it looks like I need to get him to open up to me. Get him to get rid of the shyness. I honestly don't know how to judge others, least of all someone like Brian.

I had been so afraid of seeing that incident over again in my mind. I didn't want to see him again in my mind. What he said to me! I can't believe Lloyd or anyone would ever really say that to me! Oh God, just thinking about it is giving me the chills. Yes, I still shiver over it to this day, even though it was a few years ago. It was 6 years ago, and not sight of him since then, I don't know what that means, but someone like him could turn up anywhere, anytime. That's why I sleep with a wooden Softball bat called Big Ox next to my bed, and my dad's sword. He knows where I live, so I have to be careful. Someone like him would probably try anything. Once again, I wonder to myself, "Why me? What did I do?" sigh I don't know. All I know is that what he did was not right, and he has no right to break me, I must stay strong! But those memories will live with me forever.

**Flashback**

I had been staying at my buddy Charlotte's house, just down the street one weekend during the summer, a year later after the incident with Lloyd. She was not able to stay by me because her mother was afraid of her being away for long periods of time. So, I decided to stay overnight, and I had brought quite a few things with me. I decided to walk home on my own with my arms filled to the hilt with my Barbie case, my games and my bag I had brought with me filled to the brim with stuff, and my own pillow. I thought it was gonna be an easy walk home, like it usually was. Well, as I came around the corner off of Mulberry Ct, I had been walking a few steps when I noticed someone walking towards me on the other side of the street. I ignored it, thinking the guy and the kid were far enough away in distance to not worry.

Well, sadly to say, he suddenly crossed the street, and started walking towards me. I couldn't tell who it was by sight, since my eyes were not good at reading features from too far away at that point, so I kept on walking, but watched him intently. As I neared him, I heard him talking softly. When I got close enough, I saw who it was. It was Lloyd, but who the little boy was, I don't know to this day. Lloyd was walking on the curb for a few seconds, and then crossed onto the sidewalk. I stopped right then, hearing what he was saying clearly.

"Hey Katie, you know...you stood me up and I so badly wanted to show you a good time. I want to take you so badly. I wanna break you and make you mine, and feel you quiver under me. I wanna hear you scream my name in fear. I wanna feel you from the inside. You'll enjoy it when I get through with you. I wanna make you a woman. Will you make me a man, Katie? Please baby? C'mon, Baby. Come here, I need you so badly" Lloyd said as his eyes never left mine.

"No, Lloyd. Stop it! Leave me alone! Go away! I don't like you like that! Why do you think I avoid you? Leave me alone!!!!!"

I kept walking backwards as he kept walking towards me, his lips still saying those terrible things. I didn't know what to do. My hands were full and I have no where to run! I noticed movement off to my right, and I see the other sex offender looking and watching what's going on as I passed that same yard where the first incident took place when I was little. He gave me a look of fear, but didn't take his eyes off of me. As I got myself far enough away from Lloyd, I turned my back and started to run as fast as I could back to Charlotte's house.

A few seconds later, I heard the first offender yell, "Katie, he's running after you!"

I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough he was running towards me, and I screamed and ran even faster. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me! Once I reached the corner, I turned down Mulberry and ran a few more feet, then stopped to catch my breathe. I then ran up to the side of the house on the corner, and looked around to see if he was still coming. What I saw made me feel safe...He had stopped running, and turned the opposite direction. The first offender watched as he kept walking away, and I watched to see if my savior noticed I had stopped and come back. He turned and winked at me, then went back into his house. I decided I would thank him later, no matter what he did to me all those years ago.

I decided it was not safe for me to walk home alone. So I then walked back to Charlotte's house, and told her and her parents the situation and why I came back. They allowed me to call home to see if I could get picked up. I talked to my sister and she said she'd be on her way over. Once Tabitha got to the house, Charlotte and I walked with Tabitha back to my house. We didn't see anyone outside afterwards. I was so thankful that I was not alone that time, but I certainly became much more cautious about the situation of walking through the neighborhood alone, or even playing in the neighborhood alone.

Once I got back home, I told dad as to what had happened, and described what he looked like, and what he wore. Dad then took me with him in the Suburban and we perused the neighborhood looking for Lloyd. We never found him. Part of me was happy, and part of me was disappointed. I wanted to see what my dad would do if he saw him. I was so scared and angry that I wanted him to be punished for thinking about those things when it came to me, and threatening me with those thoughts. Why he would even think of coming back for more when I never gave him any intentions of saying I wanted him. I would have figured that just standing him up a year ago and then saying I would call the cops on him if he wouldn't leave the property would have given him a clue. Idiot.

**End of flashback**

I figured that if I had told Brian about the second part of that incident now, he would never allow me to walk home alone again, even though I'm more than capable to defend myself now. Well, maybe not with my asthma. I can't run for it without winding up falling flat on my face and passed out struggling to breathe. Not a good situation. Well, I'll tell him about it later. Right now, I think I've worried him enough. I'm just so lucky to have him in my life. I honestly don't know what I'd do if that guy hadn't saved me. To think, when I thanked him on my way back, he said the situation looked bad, and he didn't want to see me go through that. I definitely didn't expect that from him. Wonders never cease.

**End of first person perspective**

Katie then turned to her end table and set her alarm clock for the morning, and then walked up to the wall to switch on her noisy ceiling fan for comfort. As she did that, she flipped the switch to turn out the light, and then crawled into bed for a good night sleep, hopefully after all she had been thinking about. After those incidents she could never sleep in complete silence. She had to have noise otherwise she would wake up at every sound, thinking it was either an intruder, or Lloyd. She decided to run that noisy ceiling fan all year round after that year. Yes, she tried her best to remain strong after that, but she will have fears for the rest of her life.

As Katie finally fell into a deep sleep after about a half an hour of staring up at her ceiling decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars and planets, Duke then opened her cracked door and waltzed in quietly. He sniffed her face, and then walked to the vacant side of the bed and jumped in, cradling her back with his warm and furry back, giving her comfort so she'll sleep through the night.


	14. He's back

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Phew...Well, after hiatus, you guys must be wondering what's happened? Well, I started a new fic, which was not something I planned. It's called The Model Village. This is also an Inuyasha fic, only it's not along the same lines as this fic. This one is a continuation fic, where MV is a comedy and it's along the same taste as the series of Inuyasha. It's really good, and it's flowing quite nicely. MV is going to be a short one compared to this one, but that means that once that one is over, I will once again be concentrating mainly on this fic. I've noticed that MV has gotten a huge response compared to this one, but don't fret. I am happy with the response MV is getting in such a short time, but this one means so much more to me than MV that I promise to finish this fic. Also, thank you all so very much for the response and for the support you all have given me through writing this fic. I love you all, and I always look forward to your reviews and your praise. Ja ne for now!

**Chapter 14: He's back...**

Homecoming was coming up in two weeks, and Katie was looking forward to it. She planned to ask Brian if he'd like to go with her. The first thing she thought about when the date came about was what it would be like to slow dance in his arms. Those arms were so warm, and she felt safe in them. She sang, as she got ready for school on a warm September morning. After she put her contacts in, she looked at herself in the mirror, and liked what she saw. Then she pulled out her makeup to cover the blemishes and her face became beautiful and flawless. She didn't need to use a lot of makeup, but her face looked natural with some color on her cheeks and eyes when she finished.

While she was sitting in science class, her teacher taught the class a lesson on water treatment and that water habitats, such as lakes, marshes and swamps can contain animals and insects that confirm the quality of the water. This Katie already knew these facts due to her experience with Earth Club two years before. She went on field trips where they checked the quality of water at places such as a marsh near them. I was neat seeing the different insects and animals. They were very intricate, and they all had their purpose for being there.

As he teacher pointed to a poster board that showed different species of animals in the water and what their presences meant, she started to itch her right eye. As she did that, her left eye started to itch. That's when the itching got out of hand and she could no longer see through her contacts. She wiped under her right eye and saw this white stuff on her finger. She felt something under her eye, and she wiped it away. She reached into her purse and pulled out her mirror, and saw this stuff coming out of her eyes. She started to pull it away from them, when one of her classmates sitting next to her just grimaced and called on the teacher to get his attention. Katie had no idea what was happening, but it obviously was not normal. The teacher stepped up to Katie's desk and looked at what was happening to her.

"Oh my! How did this happen, Katie?" The teacher asked as he looked closely at her face and handed her a paper towel to wipe her hands.

"I don't know, teacher. My eye started to itch and then the other started to itch and then this stuff just started coming out of both eyes!" Katie replied as she held up the paper towel with the puss on it, and the class reacted with, "Ew!"

The teacher walked up to his desk, grabbed the hall pass for her, and instructed her to go to the bathroom and remove her contacts and wash her face and hands. Then she was to go directly to the nurse's office without wasting a minute's time. When Katie reached the girl's bathroom, she walked right in to look at the mirror. Her eyes were pink and puffy. She grabbed her little contacts case and solution and set them down upon the counter under the mirror. She washed and dried her hands and got the solution and the case ready for her contacts. Once that was done, she leaned in close to the mirror to remove her contacts. It was painful for her to remove them from her eyes, but they felt better once those annoying lenses were gone. She saw how dirty they were and wondered what could have caused her to have that reaction. She had never experienced that before. Once her contacts were in the case and being cleaned, she put the case in her purse, and walked cross eyed down the hallway towards the nurse's office.

As she walked in, the nurse saw Katie and asked her to sit down, not even needing to ask her what was wrong. It was quite evident what was going on with Katie's eyes. The nurse told Katie she had seen this many times, it was a bad case of pink eye. The nurse mentioned that it was common amongst contact wearers. Katie's head started to hurt and she could no longer see out of either eye. As she sat and listened to the nurse call her mother, the symptoms became more evident, and her sight steadily got worse. The nurse asked Katie to lay down on one of the beds in the back of the office while she waited for her mother to show up for her. Katie's headache was getting steadily worse after just ten minutes, and she began to feel like she had the chills and a fever.

After fifteen minutes of just deteriorating in that little bed, she saw a streak of hot pink, white, and purple cross past the windows next to her. Mom was finally there, and she brought the Circus Wagon. Katie didn't want to move when her mother reached the office where she laid. Katie closed her eyes as she listened to the conversation her mother had with the nurse, and when they finished talking, she heard her mother step up to her bed and pull up a chair. Her mother, Paula, reached over and put the top of her hand against Katie's forehead and noticed Katie was burning up. Katie looked in pain and groaned as she felt her mother's cold hand placed upon her forehead.

"Ooo...That feels good, mom." Katie said as she managed a smile without opening her eyes.

"Wow, you're really burning up, Sweetie. Come on, we have to get you to the doctor." Paula said as she helped Katie sit up and direct her feet to the floor, allowing Katie the guidance without her sight.

Katie walked down the hall ways with her eyes closed and her arm around her mother's for guidance. She heard a few gasps from the hallway stragglers and knew it had to do with her face, and how puffy it was. She was afraid to even lean over or look down. She noticed as she picked up her purse from the floor in the office that her eyes felt like they would fall out of their sockets. Nice image, huh? Yuck!

Katie survived the ride to the clinic and then sat for a while just trying not to fall out of consciousness as her head exploded every few seconds starting from the eyes and going back towards her neck. After she was finally examined, she was released with prescriptions and dilated pupils. Luckily, she didn't feel like keeping her eyes open, due to the bright sunlight that shone that afternoon. Katie was taken home and put to bed immediately after taking her antibiotics. The doctor had said that she was extremely contagious and that she even had to have her own chair to sit in. This was the first bout of pink eye that family had ever experienced. Patrick avoided Katie completely due to not wanting to miss any days off work. Paula on the other hand, took good care of Katie. She fed Katie soup and crackers due to her fevers and she even helped her when she needed something off the floor or down low. Due to her generosity, Paula ended up with pink eye a couple of days later.

Katie remained home that whole week, talking to Brian every now and then over then phone. That's when it got weird. Brian's younger sister Natalie requested the phone a lot when Brian was trying to talk to Katie. Natalie was complaining about not being able to talk to her boyfriend while he was on the phone with Katie. Katie heard the arguments and yelling going on in the background to the last straw, when the phone was hung up suddenly. By this point, Katie was almost finished with her antibiotic and she no longer looked like a china man. What surprised her though was when the doorbell rang that night. Katie stayed in her room working on homework that was brought to her house by a friend of hers. She was sitting at her desk at the Brother Typewriter she had, working on a term paper for one of her classes.

That's when her door opened suddenly, and Brian appeared in the doorway. Katie looked up in surprise through her glasses and saw he didn't look too happy. Katie saved her work on the Brother, and then stood up from the desk, walked over to her bed, and sat beside Brian. She could read the look in his eyes. He was upset and ashamed at the same time.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Katie asked as she grabbed hold of his hands and he turned to face her.

He looked up and made eye contact with her. He looked like he was near tears. That's when he spoke. "I did something wrong. I don't know how to explain it. You're gonna be afraid of me and mad as well." He said as his eyes reverted to their hands.

"What do you mean? What did you do? You can tell me." Katie said as she reached her hand up to his face and he raised his eyes to hers once again.

"You remember earlier when the phone was hung up while we were talking?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, what happened? You couldn't have done that." Katie stated.

"No, that wasn't me. It was Natalie. She reached around the recliner I was sitting in and pushed the hang-up button on the phone cradle and threatened you in front of me." Brian replied as anger and bitterness appeared in his gaze.

"What happened after that?" Katie asked.

"I got so upset that I grabbed her arm, dragged her out of the house and beat the shit out of her for threatening you." He said as he bit back the tears that he held in for long enough. "I beat up my sister! I am so mad at myself! I hit a girl! Why did she have to push me that far? I don't like what I've done. I don't like how I feel. I'm a bad person, Katie. I don't deserve you. I'm afraid I'll hurt you one of these days. I'm afraid of who I am, Katie. I'm angry at the things I've done. There are things you don't know about me, Katie. If you walk away from me, I won't blame you. I'm not worth it. Believe me when I say that." Brian unloaded with a sniff as he directed his gaze to the floor, away from her eyes.

"Brian, why would I leave you after something like that? I don't see anything wrong with what you did. Natalie is selfish, and she needed to be taught a lesson obviously no one else would teach her. You were merely protecting me. She threatened me. She hasn't even met me. What did she say she'd do to me?" Katie replied.

Brian's eyes shot back up to hers in shock. 'She's not going to leave me?' He searched her eyes for a moment and saw determination in them. Determination he lacked. "She said she would beat you 'til you left me so that she wouldn't have to put up with me calling you." The anger returned In his eyes as he said that.

His eyes never left hers as he poured more of his heart out to her, with hopes he gains comfort, and not rejection from her. "What I meant by saying I'm a bad person is that in a nutshell, Katie. I've done things you would hate me for. When I was in grade school, I was a delinquent. I had friends who got into trouble all the time. No matter what they did, I went along with them. One time, we decided we wanted to try shoplifting. There were four of us. Well, we all walked around casually for a bit and then we grabbed candy bars out of the candy isle and stuffed them into our coat pockets. As we were on our way out, I was the last one in line. We were stepping up to the exit door when an alarm sounded. We all started to bolt, but I got caught by a security guard, and pulled back in, while the rest of us got away and kept on running. The security guards asked me who they were and why I did what I did. I had to rat them all out. I don't know what happened to them after that, but the guards let me go because they saw that I was honest and was pretty much innocent compared to them. Especially since I told them it wasn't my idea."

"It wasn't your idea?" Katie asked.

"No. It was one of the kids who got away. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyways." Brian replied as his gaze went to his fidgeting hands.

"What else did you do that makes you 'such a bad guy'?" Katie asked as she raised her hands to make quote marks in the air.

"I got into a lot of fights when I was younger. I never started them, but I wasn't afraid to kick any kid's ass for making fun of me, or one of my friends. I got expelled on my last day of sixth grade because some kid challenged me in the schoolyard before school. So, I broke his nose and knocked the wind out of him. I punched his stomach so hard he pissed his pants." Brian exclaimed as he chuckled, but only slightly.

"Wow. You got into a lot of fights, huh? At least you stood up for yourself. There's nothing wrong with that." Katie said as he turned his gaze on hers once again, in surprise. Katie was happy that he was finally opening up to her. She was also happy that she didn't have to ask him anything. It was his turn to unleash his tarnished past this time around.

"I even smashed a kid into a locker so hard once that the locker door had to be replaced. That was cute, I tell ya. That happened when this kid looked at me wrong. I did it 'cause he had no reason to look at me the way he did. I didn't even think twice, I just did it. He avoided me after that. I had the reputation of 'the bad boy' in school because not everyone knew me personally, but I was in choir, I was in football, and I was even in basketball. This happened in junior high. I met my best friend Ted then. He's the one who helped turn me around. He's the reason I've cooled down. Doing what I did to Natalie just brought it all back to me. It showed me that my delinquent side is still there."

"I wish I could've met you back then. It must have been interesting to see you all tough and bold." Katie exclaimed as she flexed her arm muscles like a body builder, trying to cheer him up.

"No. If you knew me back then, I would have made fun of you. I made fun of kids who wore glasses and were pushovers. It's a good thing you met me now. After I met Ted. I thank God for his friendship everyday. He brought me to God. He's the reason why I hate what I've done to Natalie, and why I don't think I'm worthy of your love, or your heart Katie. What is it you see in me?" He turned his gaze to her as he searched her eyes. What he found was amazing. Love. Unconditional love. 'That's not possible' he thought to himself as she leaned in close to him and placed her lips on his in a gentle kiss.

Brian did not expect her to do that. He had expected to be kicked out of her house, out of her life, out of heaven. He didn't expect her to hold him close as she shared her heart and affection with him in her bedroom on that cool September night while her homework sat unfinished. She kissed him softly at first and then once he gave in to his gift from her, he once again poured his heart into his offering of thanks for her existence. How such an accepting and wonderful creature such as her could exist was beyond him. In her eyes, he could do nothing wrong. In her heart, she wanted nothing more than him.

Once the kiss became more than that, Katie then pulled away reluctantly and brought her eyes to his to show him her answer. She looked calm. She looked happy. She knew in her heart that he was the one she hoped she'd find. No other guy she'd dated ever showed her so much of himself. Brian showed her his heart, his soul. He has shown himself to her in many ways. She felt safe with him. He made her happy. She had only felt nervous the first day she met him. He never gave her reason to fear him, or feel nervous once she got to know him. He was not trash. He was worth more than he felt he was. He was the diamond in the rough. There was a reason why they were brought together, and she knew she would spend the rest of her life finding out why they met. The way they met was amazing. It was too perfect. It had to be for a good reason. One thing she knew for certain, she wanted to make him feel loved, and let him know how wonderful he truly was. The fact that he became so much more mature than his friends and turned his life around made him that much stronger than he was back then. She could never allow herself to reject him from that point on.

Brian saw the look in her eyes. The look she was offering said it all. He had no reason to question how she felt. But he did wonder. What was it he did to capture this wonderful girl's heart? All he did was talk to her, and then ask her to a movie. Nothing special. He didn't give her flowers; he didn't sacrifice anything for her. Man, he didn't even have to promise her anything for her affection. She gave it and accepted willingly. Almost too willingly. How he struck gold on his first try was beyond him. No other girl had interested him before he first saw Katie. What was he to think of all of this? Fate? Coincidence? Who knows? One thing he was sure of, he wasn't about to let her out of his life. He vowed to himself that if he had to, he would keep a hold of her and keep her there in that room, in his arms for the rest of his life. All that just to make sure she was safe, loved and happy. He vowed to give her his heart and never take it back as he held her close for a while longer as the night passed without fail.

* * *

Phew! Wow, what a chapter, huh? Well, now we know more about Brian's past and how he is like Inuyasha as far as circumstance. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter at least as much as I enjoyed writing it. I had originally wanted to write this chapter differently, naming it before I wrote it, and it turned out to make sense in the end anyways! Plus, I hope you like that the chapters are longer and contain more content. I am still working hard on that. Well, let me know what you thought, K? Ja ne! 


	15. Halloween and Him Again?

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Wow…It's been a while since I last updated this fic. This chapter has been a long time coming, and this one will be an interesting one indeed. Some interesting points will come into view in this chapter, and it will be a bit longer than usual. Now that I no longer feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I am sure that I will be able to update this fic more often. Once again, thank you very much for your support and I certainly hope you enjoy this chapter. Ja ne!

**Chapter 15: Halloween, and him again?**

Well, Homecoming came and went, and so did Katie's liking for contacts. Yes, she reverted to her spare pair of glasses due to her bad experience with Pink Eye. She had learned her lesson in wearing them while she had a minor cold. Go figure. Due to that experience, she had missed one Homecoming. The first one she had ever missed during her high school career so far. She was a bit depressed, but she figured she'd get through it. Brian and Katie had become a lot closer since that night when he came to her room unexpectedly. There was still one thing she needed to know. Where he lived. Katie decided there was nothing he could say to deter her from knowing all about him. She felt there was no reason for him to hide anything from her.

Her first day back to school, she decided that day would be the day when she would ask him if she could walk him home. She had no homework that night, and she knew her parent's would not mind if she stayed by him and met his family finally. He had been starting to catch Katie in the hallways between classes so that they could have a little more time during the day to be together, since they only had one class together. Choir was always their favorite class; they could be in the same room, and they could hear each other perform.

Katie always looked forward to hearing his voice while he sang. He was one of the few tenors in the choir, and he was the leader because of his good ears. His ears were soo in tune; he could sing one song in tune while another song was playing. He was always dead on. It amazed Katie to no end. Especially since her ears were less than perfect.

Katie had many ear infections as a child. She even once had a double ear infection when she was just a toddler. How her parents found out, was they found Katie standing in her crib banging her head against the wooden railing; causing her to have a huge goose-egg of a bump and bruise in the middle of her forehead. Funny enough, Katie even remembered the experience. She had done it merely because the inside of her head sounded very strange, and she couldn't quite understand what had caused that change. It was her way of trying to figure out the problem. She was not crying, nor did any of that hurt. She just thought it was strange. When Katie had that double whammy, it had caused her to go deaf for that short period. Of course, that was not the only problem she had with her ears. The most dramatic incident had been when Katie allowed her sister, Tabitha, try to clean out her ears, and due to a rough jab of the q-tip into Katie's ear caused Katie's ear to bleed severely, and lead to another doctor's visit.

Katie was an exceptional singer, but due to her ears, she had a hard time telling if she was slightly out of tune. Her voice carried through the auditorium whenever she belted out a note with the greatest of ease. She had a pair of strong lungs, lungs that caused people to believe that she would go into opera in her adulthood. Though Katie's voice grew through voice lessons, she still had the problem with hearing the differences between the tones.

After the last class of the day ended Brian found Katie at her locker, smile on his face and his duffle bag on his shoulder. Katie turned as she felt him tap her shoulder, returned the smile and gave him a hug. Katie turned back to her locker after the hug ended and she finished grabbing her books and materials for homework and closed her locker. Brian and Katie walked hand in hand down the halls towards the exit doors leading to the student parking lot.

Katie usually either walked home or took the bus since she still didn't have her license. So, she just followed Brian out the opposite way she normally left the school. Katie wanted to make sure she could get him to allow her to see where he lived. As he stopped after they exited the doors, he turned to her and grabbed her other hand as well.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Brian said as he stepped closer to Katie, and kissed her softly on the lips. Katie put her arms around his neck, signaling she wanted the kiss to be more than just a peck on the lips. Brian responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him, deepening the kiss. The two lost themselves in their own little world as their peers walked by making comments on how they should just get a room. Katie didn't want him to leave her there, alone to walk home by herself. She wanted to spend more time with him. He was becoming the air she breathed. He made school bearable.

As Brian pulled away, panting, he looked into her eyes and saw longing. "What is it?" He asked as he put his hand upon her cheek.

"I was wondering about something. Could I spend more time with you tonight? I have no homework, and I don't have to be home right away." Katie replied pleadingly.

"Oh…Uh…Where do you wanna go?" Brian answered, skirting around what he knew she really meant. He may not have been her boyfriend for very long, but he learned she could be a little sneaky when it came to her wanting something.

"Oh…Anywhere, as long as we're together. You have any idea of a placed in mind?" Katie asked, knowing he was trying to avoid the issue of his home.

"Huh…I know what you're really talking about. You're still curious about my home, aren't you?" Brian shot back with a sly smile on his face.

"Well, you could say that. I still don't see why you're still shy about it." Katie shrugged, as she looked him in the eye.

"You honestly don't wanna meet my family. Seriously. Please stop asking, okay?" Brian responded as he turned his back and began to walk down the steps to the sidewalk.

"No! Please! Brian!" Katie exclaimed as she followed him down the steps and ran in front of him to stop him.

"Katie, please. I'm not comfortable about it! You have a beautiful family! You have a nice home! One could almost call you rich! I don't want to find out what you would think about 'My Life' if you had a glimpse of it!" Brian shouted. Katie looked him in the eye as teens walked around them, staring.

"Brian…You know me. I'm not rich. I'm not someone without hardship either. My family has had it's ups and downs. We all do. What makes your family life soo terrible, may not affect me at all. You know I'm not one to judge you because of the hand you've been dealt. You know of my life. I've been completely open about everything! Why can't you accept me into your heart and let me into your life as I have done for you?" Katie responded as she stepped closer and put her hand on his cheek.

Brian closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. She was right. She had let him into her life soo easily, yet he had kept her at such a distance that she didn't even know him. He was being a fool. No matter how ashamed of his life he was, he never kept himself from anyone like he has from her. It had become clear to him that he was trying to live as if his world didn't exist. He opened his eyes to stare into her trusting eyes. So far, she had accepted him no matter what he had done in his past. She understood him like no other. He knew what he had to do.

"Okay. I'll take you to see my home and family. It's not much, but I have no where else to go." Brian replied, a solemn look in his eyes.

"It's okay, I see this as a chance to get to know more about you, and help you to open up to me. There's nothing to be afraid of. You can trust me to love you the same." Katie said reassuringly as Brian smiled. He took her hand and led her through the parking lot into the less desirable area of homes nearest the school.

Katie walked beside Brian as she looked around, recognizing a friend's house, and pointing it out to Brian to help him to feel better that she knew someone who lived near him. Brian smiled and brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. That action moved Katie's heart. None of the guys she had previous relationships with ever did that. It sent chills up her arm giving her goose bumps. They told jokes, stories, and laughed the short distance to his house.

When they came to a stop at the corner of Sheldon and Plum avenues, Brian let go of her hand, stood facing her, and spread his arms out wide as he said, "This is it, this is where I live. Pathetic, huh?" Brian said as his arms fell to his sides and he searched her face for her reaction.

Katie smiled genuinely and said, "Oh. Nice, thanks for bringing me."

"You're not embarrassed to see this?" Brian asked as he gestured behind him.

"No. It's a part of you, Brian. It's where you grew up. I love everything about you, and that includes your family and home. Thank you, Brian"

Katie walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned her body in close as he relaxed finally, and held her back. He kissed her lightly and then laid his head on her shoulder and said, "Thank you, Katie."

Katie gave him a reassuring squeeze, pulled back and gave him a smile in acknowledgement. After that, he lead her into the house to allow her into his life even more. He felt he owed it to her for being soo wonderful to him. He felt at ease with her, and was happy to know he could trust her fully. Not even Ted touched his heart as she had, and up to the time he met her, Ted was all he had. She brought him another family of people to love and made him feel at home. Another place to go.

His house was not much. The house was small for a family of seven. His mom and dad had one bedroom. His two younger sisters shared the other bedroom, and Brian and his younger brother shared a storage space only large enough to fit a bunk bed set, and a wardrobe for their clothes. Since the oldest of the siblings had moved out long ago, Brian and his younger brother ceased sharing a bed at night due to space constraints. There was a nice sized dining area, nice sized living room, and a kitchen with plenty of cabinet space and washer and dryer. Seven tenants and one small bathroom for all of them.

The house implored closeness, and struggle. Katie knew that no matter how constrained the family might have been that circumstance helped him to be whom he was turning out to be. Katie realized what he tried to hide. Poverty. Katie felt sad about their situation financial wise, but the fact that he was born into humble surroundings is what made him humble himself. She understood why he was a bit rough around the edges in his youth. He had to be to keep the kids at bay from his situation. The first thing she decided she would do was tell him his circumstance was a part of him.

"Mom will be home soon. I think you'll like her. Your Mom reminds me of my Mom." Brian said with a smile as he looked to the clock on the wall.

"Oh! I would love to meet your Mom!" Katie exclaimed as Brian then gestured for her to sit down as he lead her into the living room. Katie sat down on the couch, and faced Brian as he sat beside her.

Katie and Brian talked until his mother returned home, and then his father shortly after. Katie was very polite and kind to both and they had a nice evening visiting. Brian's mother fell in love with Katie the moment they were introduced. She was very proud that her son found such a wonderful girl, and she accepted Katie as one of her own that very night. Katie didn't talk much with his dad, as his dad spent most of the time in the master bedroom, relaxing after a hard day of work. Katie even met his two younger sisters and his younger brother. Natalie apologized for her behavior, as she saw how nice Katie was. Natalie even asked Katie to join her outside for a cigarette so they could get to know each other a bit better. Katie stayed well into the evening, just talking away mainly with Brian's mother, and having a great time.

Once it got late, Brian offered to walk Katie home. But since it was late, she decided she wanted to ask if her parents could pick her up so that Brian would not have to walk home alone late at night. As they waited outside, they leaned up next to the tree in the front yard and held each other tenderly. Brian was amazed at how accepting she was especially since he figured the worst, and got the best instead.

'Katie never ceases to amaze me' He thought to himself. He was shocked to know that a girl of her caliber would see him as the best thing that has ever happened to her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever encountered. She was there for him in ways no one else had ever been. Not even Ted.

When Katie's dad showed up, he pulled up next to the grass and just unlocked the doors to the suburban. Katie and Brian turned and looked at the vehicle. Katie turned back to Brian and looked into his dreamy eyes. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I had a great time here tonight. I'm glad I asked again." Katie replied with a smile.

Brian laughed and said, "Yeah, you really got me this time, didn't ya? I'm glad I let you in." That's when they shared their goodnight kiss under the tree on that beautiful night as Katie's father sat in the driver's seat of the suburban waiting for his daughter to be ready to go home.

-

A couple weeks later, Katie was walking home from school, when she saw a pickup truck in her parent's driveway. The pickup truck was unrecognizable. She shrugged and walked up to the door and let herself in. What she saw shocked her, or should it be put as…who she saw. The last person she expected to see was sitting there on the couch waiting for her.

The person waiting for her was none other than Jason. Apparently, he had been visiting over at the high school library as he would periodically, and decided to come by and pay Katie a visit. Katie was shocked to see him again, but more importantly, he decided to make the effort to come out and see her. Katie didn't know what else to do but greet him and give him a big hug. For some reason, even with the relationship she had established with Brian, she still felt drawn to Jason somehow.

"Hey Katie! How have you been? It's been a while." Jason asked as Katie and he sat down on the couch, and Katie's mother left to go work in the kitchen.

"I've been good. I had no idea you were visiting today. What brings you here?" She asked as she eyed him with curiosity. Since they broke up and her sister's wedding, they had not kept in touch at all.

"Well, I was wondering why you hadn't asked me to Homecoming. I saw today that it had been a couple of weeks ago. Did you go?" Jason enquired.

"Homecoming? I didn't go. I was sick. I had a case of Pink Eye." Katie replied.

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you were asked by anyone else. I hadn't heard from you in a while, so I was wondering if you were still free." Jason replied with a tinge of red in his cheeks.

"Oh…Well, I had planned to ask my boyfriend, but I got sick. So it was pretty much out of the question." Katie replied thinking, 'Man…He has the nerve to think I'd still be free for him ONLY when HE wants my attention?!'

"Oh…you DO have someone. I'm sorry." Jason said as his face turned to his hands; melancholy.

'sigh Here we go…He can leave me, but I can't have another boyfriend.' Katie inwardly shook her head as she thought about how this was going.

"I'm sorry, Katie. I just miss you is all. You mind if we see each other more often?" Jason asked as his eyes wandered up to Katie's hoping she would accept.

"I don't mind seeing you more often. You are my friend after all. Plus, the family likes you. You're always welcome here." Katie responded with a smile.

"Okay, thanks. Hey, uh…You got a bike?" Jason asked as he remembered what he truly wanted to ask her. He had planned the whole evening. A nice bike ride on the trail with the gorgeous trees and their changing leaves. He was originally planning to ask her out again, but since she had someone already, he'd just be with her for the evening.

"Oh, yeah. I haven't ridden it since this summer, but sure. It's still beautiful out. Why not?" Katie answered as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Great! I have my bike in the back of the pickup. Where's yours? We can stick it back there with mine. Sound good?"

"Sure. It's in the garage. Hold on, let me tell mom, k?" Katie said as she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

Jason listened to the exchange between Katie and her mom. He leaned back on the couch, put his hands behind his head, and crossed his left calve over his right knee. He had it all planned out. He'd take her biking, then a nice dinner or desert, his treat of course. One thing she always did to him, was whenever she was with him, he'd want to treat her like a queen. She made him want to be a better man. To him, she was everything. He loved everything about her. All the other girls he got involved with could never compare to Katie. The last thing he wanted was to loose her completely.

Katie's mom said she could go, and only if she was brought home at a decent hour. Katie led Jason to the garage after she put her backpack and purse in her room. They grabbed her bike, and put it in the back of the truck. That's when Katie had remembered something she had to do first before they left.

"Oh, hold on a second. I have to do something really quick. Wait for me, k?" Katie asked as Jason smiled and watched her run back into the house.

What Katie had run to do, was call Brian to let him know she was going out bike riding with Jason. Brian was not happy, but as soon as Katie assured him that it was innocent, and they were just catching up since they were friends to begin with, Brian accepted and told her he'd see her at school. Katie felt weird after asking Brian if she could spend some time with her ex…But she saw no harm in catching up with an old friend. She kept thinking about it while they rode to the bike trails.

They had talked about everything that had happened since they last saw each other at the wedding. Jason and Katie had no idea how much time had flown by when they found themselves back at The Root beer, a restaurant just a mile from where they parked the truck. Jason asked Katie if she was hungry and she nodded. So, they walked their bikes up the steep hill, locked their bikes up to the bike rack, and walked into the fast food restaurant. Jason and Katie ordered hot dogs and root beer and sat in a booth, periodically putting change into the sixties style jukebox. They reminisced about old times, and remembered all the things that happened when they first met in Junior high. He was the only boy out of that whole school who respected her, and treated her like a lady. He looked out for her, and sat with her at lunch when they had the same lunch hour. Jason was never afraid to be seen with Katie. He wanted her near even then.

Katie could tell what it was he was doing. He was not only hoping to spend time with her, it was as if he was trying to get her interested in him again. She did feel many emotions for Brian, but when it came to Jason, there was just something about him that made her proud to be with him. He was in fact the cliché she chased for years. Since she felt that way about him for as long as she had, it was hard for her to feel different about him. Deep down, she still loved him. In her mind, she felt bad because of the possibility of Jason coming around more often, she wasn't sure if it would be fair to Brian if she went off with him once again. That was something she began to think very hard about.

Brian had asked Katie about what had happened, and why she and Jason were still keeping in touch after what he did to her. In Brian's mind, Jason was an idiot who had no heart. To Brian, Jason only cared about 'getting' with Katie, but not treating her the way she deserved to be treated. Brian was reluctant to become possessive of her. He wanted to trust her, not smother her. Yes, Katie meeting with 'him' the other day angered him, but he kept it to himself, and decided to watch and see what would happen. He would go on with his relationship with Katie as he had been and just hope that was just a 'once in a blue moon' happening.-

Halloween week had come quickly for West High school students. What that meant for them was "The Ghost Walk". Katie had been involved with the Drama Club specifically for that one reason alone. Her sister, Tabitha, was involved in it the year she graduated and Katie was a freshman. Tabitha got Katie involved with it her freshman year, and they had a blast. When West High's Drama Club hosted the Ghost Walk, they took over a historical farm nearby and they decorated it for the Halloween weekend. They would bring in the crowds every year, and each year was a success. Katie enjoyed being able to dress up as a dead person, however she chose to dress, and she was given permission to scare. She enjoyed scaring the bageezes out of people. It was also a chance for her to use her acting skills she had always harbored.

One year, she was asked to fill in for someone who was sick. The display she became a part of that night was one where it looked like someone was being dismembered by a psychopathic doctor. She had to sit on a stool under a table. Her upper body sat over the table through a hole strategically placed in the middle. Then she was asked to lay the rest of her oversized shirt over the table, and lay her back and head against the top of the table…Making it look like she had been cut in half. Katie asked if there was anything special they wanted her to say, and they told her to just adlib. So, she chose to either scream loudly, or to ask anyone who came by to help her find her legs. She got quite a few laughs, and she was also able to scare the wits out of the ones who were gullible. The only drawback in being a part of the Ghost Walk was most of those kids got sick or just lost their voices. The choir teachers didn't like the idea of the choir members being involved due to that very reason.

Katie had finished her night with the Ghost Walk on Saturday night, the 28th. Brian had met her there at the Ghost Walk and decided to catch a ride home with Katie. They ended up in Katie's bedroom with her door cracked. They had been making out heavily when Brian accidentally brushed his hand against her chest. Katie gasped and pulled away. Brian blushed as he apologized, and said he lost his head for a second. Katie thought his apology was genuine and gentlemanly. She asked him the question he never thought she'd ask.

"Do you want to see me?"

Brian choked and his eyes got big as he just stared at her in disbelief. He had never gone that far with her before, nor any other girl since Katie was his first. He couldn't move his mouth, so he nodded sheepishly instead. Katie trusted Brian enough to know he would never hurt her, no matter how far she let him go with her. She knew he had never seen a girl topless before, and she wondered how he would react. With her parents downstairs watching movies, she knew they would not be interrupted any time soon.

Brian's heart jumped up in his throat as he watched Katie untuck her black turtleneck from her black sweat pants and then proceed to lift it over her head. What he saw kept his interest for eternity it seemed. Katie tossed the shirt to the side and smiled. She had on a black push-up bra that made her look well endowed. Brian's breath began to accelerate as she reached back to undue the clasps of her bra.

As soon as nothing stood between his eyes and her skin, he couldn't help but reach forward and touch her. Her skin did something amazing to him. As he touched her, she let out a few moans and he began to loose himself once again. He kissed her lips long and hard as he held her close, touching and caressing her slim back. Now he knew she was truly an angel. To him she was perfect in every way. She was everything he had imagined her to be. She felt good to him in his arms, her soft skin under his hands. He wound up hovering over her on the bed, touching and kissing her exposed skin. He wanted to see more of her, but was afraid he wouldn't turn back if he did.  
Once Brian was able to contain himself, he pulled away from her lips and looked upon her as she laid there. Her lips swollen and her eyes set to bedroom. He knew exactly what to say. "You are gorgeous, every inch of you. You are soo beautiful, Katie. What you do to me is amazing. I've never felt this way before, and I just want to tell you something. I love you, Katie. You mean more to me than anything I could ever ask for. I don't want to scare you, but you have no idea what you're doing to me." Brian said as he panted above her.

"What am I doing to you?" Katie asked innocently, this too being the furthest she had ever gone.

"This." He simply replied as he grabbed her hand and placed it on him. She gasped as she felt his hardness. She had never touched a guy before. That being very unexpected, she quickly pulled her hand away and began to sit up and cover herself out of shyness. She didn't realize what that would do to him. Brian sat there, watched her cover her beauty, and reached out to her cheek. "You don't have to worry, I won't go any further. I could never let myself hurt you. Here." He said as he pulled her close into a hug and just held her.

As he held her, he tried to calm himself. He tried to think about how bad it could have gotten had he not stopped. Yes, he wanted her badly, but he knew it would be the worst mistake he could ever commit if he had. If he were to loose control, he would never forgive himself, and he knew he'd more than likely loose her forever. He connected with her soul, and her heart. But most of all, she had helped him to open up about his feelings, and his emotions. He felt he was worthless before she came into his life. He vowed to live for her. He vowed to devote his life to her. To protect her, to love her, and to give her everything he could.

Okay…Now I'm really fanning myself! Phew! sweating And yes…I had expected that juicy but innocent scene to be written in this chapter. Ta think that was the boldest thing I had ever done. This story being based on my life and my relationship with this wonderful man, my husband, as far as what's written here, is true. Yeah…If I could get the chance to relive these scenes, I wouldn't change a thing. So, hope you enjoyed this chappy, and the next one, I'm betting you guys will be more than shocked. I'm not saying why, but hopefully I can have that chappy out by this coming Friday or Saturday. And don't worry; Thanksgiving will not affect my posting pattern, since I do most of my writing at work. So, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and I'll post to ya later! Ja ne!


	16. What!

**I do not own the characters from Inuyasha.**

Well, here we are with another chappy! I know I have written one already this week, but if I don't update this weekend, then I will be a chapter behind 'cuz the last chapter I released earlier this week was late already. So, like I said in the last one, this chappy is not meant to be a happy one…But it is definitely important to the plot. I'm just gonna get on my flame retardant, and spoiled veggie proof parka on, k? Thanks again for your support, and I certainly hope you won't get too mad at me…cowers in the corner shivering

**Chapter 16: WHAT?!**

Katie had been up all night. She hadn't slept in almost 24 hours. Something bothered her and she didn't know what to do. She was thinking about how she made Brian feel when she went bike riding with her ex, Jason. She hadn't heard from Jason in over a week, but she figured she'd give him some time, due to him living an hour away. She had to admit to herself how she felt when she saw him, and how they had a great time together when they went biking and they reminisced. She felt bad because she began to realize that night that no matter how much she felt for Brian, the feelings for Jason were still there.

Katie thought that after she had started going out with Brian she no longer felt the same for Jason. Well, that last meeting with him proved her wrong. She still loved him. What got her to rekindle those feelings was the fact that he obviously still had feelings for her. What really bothered her most was how she felt for Brian, and how sweet he was with her. Jason showed more of an adult love for her, whereas Brian was more tender, and kind. She was very confused, and she felt she couldn't decide on who she wanted to be with more.

They were both nice and wonderful young men, but her heart tried to give itself to both. It felt split in half. They were not the only young men in her life. There was also Scott and Brandon. They were close to Katie like brothers and sister; a threesome. Though she felt closer to Scott than anything else. Scott's house was the one she had pointed out that was close to Brian's house. She had been friends with Scott ever since her freshman year. At first, everyone thought she and Scott would get together. Scott had expressed his love for her in many different ways. He stood up for her, did almost everything with her during those years before she met and started dating both Jason and Brian. The only thing about Scott was due to his past he didn't have the guts to go further in their friendship.

Katie and Scott got along very well. Katie was the only girl Scott would ever have allowed to get close to him. He shared even his darkest secrets and desires with Katie. He couldn't say how he felt in words, but his actions proved evidence of his affections for her. She was also the only girl he would allow to touch him in any way. Even a simple hug from someone he didn't trust could be devastating to him. He had some bad experiences from his childhood that caused him to loose his trust in women and girls. Katie found him to be sweet and he showed her the utmost kindness.

When it came to Katie dating Brian, Scott didn't let it faze him. He decided to keep the relationship they already had strong. Whether or not Katie was with him or anybody else, the last thing he wanted to do was loose her. One thing that mattered the most to him was that she was safe, and she didn't get involved with anyone who was capable of hurting her. He had met Jason, and he certainly felt Jason was not worthy of Katie's heart. He just couldn't understand what it was Katie saw in the jerk. When he met Brian, he was a little leery of her dating a guy younger than her. The first thing that bothered him was that if they decided to be together, how would a 'kid' take care of a beautiful woman like her? Humph…That's how every guy Katie knew felt. They all wanted to protect her; they all wanted to take care of her. She was beginning to feel like a prize.

No matter how all of them saw her, she didn't want to hurt any of them. She treasured all of them for their wonderful qualities. She knew they were all worth something in the end. She just didn't feel like she was anything to fight over. Why none of them could get along was beyond her. Even so, it ate at her how many guys were circled around her and part of her life. Only a couple of girls she knew remained close with her. All the other girls stayed at a distance, or remained as acquaintances. The guys were the closest to her. She began to think she was a guy magnet. She wasn't the prettiest girl her age, and certainly not the smartest in book smarts, but she did have plenty of common sense.

She didn't fight not being able to sleep, for it was a Saturday morning. She decided she would turn on her light, get her notebook and a pen, and write some poetry on the matter. She found writing to be a comfort when she was confused, upset, depressed or sad. It helped, especially at night when she couldn't sleep, and everyone else around her was asleep. It helped her to get strange thoughts and emotions out of her mind and off her chest. That was how she dealt with things. Writing the problems down on paper even helped her to figure out how to handle situations such as these.

Once she had been writing for about 20 minutes, she read the poem she had written, and figured out what it was she had to do. She didn't like the answer, but it turned out to be the only way. With her confusion of being torn between the affections of two wonderful men, she had to leave them both and clear her heart. How she learned this, was she was told about her great grandmother, Paulva's situation. Paulva was alive during the earthquake in San Francisco that killed a huge amount of people. She felt torn by two men. The one who ended up becoming Katie's great grandfather, and one who became a distant family member of Katie's. Paulva loved them both, but she knew she couldn't hurt them both by trying to keep them. So, she left for a while. She went to San Francisco to clear her mind, and decide who it was she was meant to give her heart to. While she was there, the earthquake happened. What helped her decide who to choose was the first name that came to her mind during those scary moments. It was Katie's great grandfather, they called him Dedda.

Katie decided she would do the same. Only difference, she didn't decide to go to California. She just decided to free her heart of both of them. She knew it was gonna hurt Brian more than anything else, but she felt as if she was cheating on him. She didn't have her heart back from Jason to give to him. She felt she was only offering part of herself. That was not fair to Brian since he was giving her all of himself. She decided that later that day, when they'd get together, she would tell him.

Well, Katie did finally fall asleep and she awoke in the early afternoon. When she awoke, she received a phone call from Brian. When she took hold of the receiver, she asked him to come by. She told him she had something very important to tell him. He accepted and came by within an hour. When he arrived, Katie's parents had already left to go to show. Katie let him in, and directed him to the living room couch. Brian noticed the solemn look on her face and new that what she was going to talk to him about was not good news.

"Brian, I have something I need to tell you. It's not easy for me to say this, but I have to, for you." Katie drawled out with a frown.

"Okay, what's wrong? Did I do something I shouldn't have? Does it have to with a couple of Saturdays ago?" Brian asked nervously, thinking he was in deep shit for touching her.

"Oh, no. Not about that. I'm glad that happened. Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Katie pointed out quickly.

"Well, then what is it? What's wrong?" Brian asked again as Katie looked down on her hands and began to peel her fingernails and bite her bottom lip.

"Well, it has everything to do with me. There's something you need to know." Katie replied as she raised her eyes to his. She saw how worried over the situation he was. To see his eyes like that saddened her, for she knew it was her fault for hurting him. "This is gonna sound really stupid to you, and you're probably gonna get really mad at me, but it's the truth and I have to tell you."

"Okay. I understand. Continue, I'm listening"

Katie didn't realize how hard it was going to be. She began to shake and cry. She took a deep breathe, closed her eyes and focused her mind for a moment. When she opened her eyes, making contact with his, she then felt ready to tell him. "Brian, I have had a lot of fun with you, and I'm very grateful for having you in my life. But…there's something about my heart that you don't know…"

"It's about Jason, isn't it?" Brian threw out, a look of anger in his eyes.

Katie looked into those pools of contempt dark brown and nodded. "I noticed something when he came by a couple weeks back. I noticed how I felt while I was with him. I know he has hurt me before, but honestly…my heart is not free to give to you. He still holds it, Brian. He still has feelings for me. I feel like an idiot for leading you on, but this is truly how I feel."

Brian stared into her eyes strongly for a second, closed them, and took a deep breathe to calm his nerves. He reached for her hands and then held them. The last thing he wanted was to blow up at her when she was being honest, even though that's how he truly felt. Betrayed. His eyes then rose to hers showing he was struggling with the news.

"Okay…So, what does that make us? Don't you realize we have something here? He left you! HE LEFT YOU! If anyone's the idiot here, it's HIM! I personally don't think he deserves you! I still remember everything you said he put you through! Why can't you understand that I've opened myself to you, shown you who I am with trust that you would not exploit it, or leave me? You said you wouldn't leave me after I told you. Little rich boy says he still likes you, and you turn away from the one who really loves you and was willing to lay everything he had down on the table for you! ALL FOR YOU! Not to be mean, Katie, but how do you know he's been faithful to you. How do you know he will remain faithful to you when he knows he could have any girl he wishes! I've seen his pictures, and I'll give you my opinion. You are worth more than him. He knows what he has. He flaunts it. He doesn't truly love you. I do." Brian let out as tears began to fall from his eyes at those last two words, 'I do'. He showed her his true heart. He'd be darned if she turned his heart down for an idiot like Jason.

Katie began to cry. She knew she was wrong, but she couldn't help how her heart felt. She could never lie to herself just to sugar coat it for him. "You didn't let me finish. I can't lie to you, Brian. That's the last thing I could ever do. What I really meant to say was that I needed some time. Time to figure out where my heart belongs. I haven't chosen between you two. I realized that I couldn't at this point. I'm not leaving you in the dirt, Brian. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm asking of us is for us to just cool it a bit, and be friends, at least 'til I figure out who I truly love. Okay? I do love you, but I've loved Jason for years, Brian. I've had a crush on him since junior high because he was soo sweet, and he was then only guy who was not a jerk to me! He stood up for me back then! He cared about me! He still does! Yeah we live far apart, but he makes the effort to come out. Please understand. There's a reason why he keeps coming back. He must be comparing the girls out by him to me, and he realizes every time he can't! Doesn't he deserve another chance?" Katie said pleadingly.

"So, you want me to give up my time with you just so you can pine over him being gone? So you can wait by the phone and try to play phone tag with someone whom you can't see everyday? That's not a relationship, its slavery. You deserve better than that. Believe me, Katie. I can give you better than he ever could. I Love You!" Brian said with more intent.

"I know you do. That's why I'm being forward with you. I don't want to lead you on any further. I'm confused, okay. Please, forgive me. I knew this would hurt you, but I don't want to loose you. I still need you, Brian." Katie said between sobs.

"I need you too. But you obviously don't understand my needs. You don't know me. You don't know what you've done for me, or what you mean to me! To set me aside for an idiot who doesn't truly understand what you're worth as a woman! All he sees you for is how gorgeous you'd look under him." Brian said accenting the word 'under'.

Katie gasped at those words. She had wondered about Jason's intent. She didn't want to assume she knew anything. No matter whose turn it was with her, she wanted to be true to the one she was with at the time. That's what she had been taught and raised to believe in. Faithfulness was major to her. The last thing she wanted was to cheat or to commit adultery because she couldn't give her heart completely to one man. Wasn't it enough that she was being open about her feelings and not sneaking behind his back?

Brian took a deep breathe once again and collected himself and set his anger aside. He looked her in the eye and gave her his full attention. She was right in that last comment. She was afraid of how he'd react, but she was strong enough to tell him to his face how she felt and what was going on. That and she weren't putting any blame on him. The fact she came out strongly about her confusion gave him a bit of comfort. She wasn't a sneak who would try to solve the problem herself behind his back and try to make it sound innocent. She DIDN'T want to cheat on him. Just thinking about that gave him the strength to make the next decision.

"Okay. What's gonna happen here is I will remain by your side. You're confused, so I'll be here for support for you. You have been honest with me and you don't want to hurt me. In understand where you're coming from. You weren't foolish in telling me how you feel, so I will not be a fool either. I love you. That's all that matters to me. I can't loose you, so I won't. Just don't forget through all this that I'm not giving up, and he's infringing on MY time with you. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I'll cool it as far as the making out and everything, no matter how hard that'll be for me. I'd do anything for you, Katie. I've loved you ever since the first day we met, and I'm not gonna be stupid about this." Brian answered her plea without a flinch in his eyes. He made sure she saw how he truly felt and that he would go through fire for her.

Katie's tears fell to their hands as she realized she still had his heart to comfort her through the storm. At that moment, she didn't care who she ended up with in the end. She had a wonderful man at her side to see her through any trial. No matter how stupid, how hard the trial may be, but he will stand by her even if he's hurt. All she wanted right then was a hug. She smiled and reached her arms forward, wrapping them around his neck, holding him tightly to her. She wanted nothing more than to be in his arms, his heart beating close to hers. He truly was a wonderful soul. How she caught his eye will forever be a mystery to her, but she was grateful for his love and devotion.

After that November Saturday, Katie and Brian remained close and they still did things together as close friends. They did not kiss, but they did hug and hold each other. Katie began to realize that she did need his comfort to the point where she felt she needed to be nowhere but in his arms. The next few weeks were long, but they got through them together.

As Christmas came along, Katie's family had planned their Christmas get together with her father's side on Friday, December 22. Since it was the Linden's turn to host the family get together, Katie invited Brian by to meet her family. She figured that she would be bored later on in the party anyways. Also, since they planned to celebrate Katie's 18th birthday, she figured he could celebrate it with her while the family was schmoozing. Katie visited with the family a bit, but spent most of her time with Brian. That night they talked more about how her heart felt. They decided to find refuge out in the garage, Katie in Brian's arms, her arms wrapped around his waist under his coat to keep warm.

"So, how is it going with your decision about us?" Brian inquired as they swayed together.

"Well, I haven't heard from Jason in a little while. The last time I saw him was before we talked. I'm beginning to call him a fair weather friend. I don't know when he's gonna be out, or when I'll be able to catch him at home with phone tag. He's been 'it' for a while now." Katie replied as she listened to his steady heartbeat.

"Oh. I don't think he realizes what he has, or used to have for that matter. I'm sorry about that. I'd still love to kick his ass for treating you like garbage." Brian replied as he held her tighter and closer to him. Katie tightened her grip on him as well.

"I know. I don't know what to think right now. I don't know why I was soo confused before. I feel like an idiot." Katie replied as her eyes began to tear.

"No, you're not. He's played you one time too many. I can understand now what that could be like to have your heart played like a card in a game of poker. You're more than that to me, and you always will be." Brian said as he grabbed her chin and lifted her head to face his. "I may feel that way about Jason, but I am behind you and I will always be here for you. I don't want to be anywhere else. I don't even want to leave you at night. I love it here where you are."

As he said those last words, he got lost in her eyes. So lost he didn't realize his lips inching closer to hers until they touched. He didn't end the kiss either. He had missed her kiss for soo long. The kiss was deep and full of passion. It felt like they had become one in that kiss with his coat wrapped around the two of them. It was as if the coat was their barrier to the world. Nothing could separate them, not even Katie's father coming out into the garage to get a screwdriver for the extra table. They were oblivious to everything until Katie's dad slammed the door shut as he went inside, just to scare them.

"Ah!" Katie screamed and jumped as her head accidentally hit Brian's nose. Brian let go of her and held his nose for just a second. "Oh no! Are you okay? I'm soo sorry!"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Who was that?" Brian asked.

"Uh…I think that may have been my dad. Shoot! I think he saw us kissing!" Katie exclaimed as her face got really red.

"Oh…Crap…Uh…Does he know we separated?" Brian asked sheepishly.

"Yeah. I wonder if he thinks we're back together again." Katie answered looking down at the floor.

"Well, are we?" Brian asked.

Katie looked up at him suddenly in surprise. She hadn't expected that kiss. "Well, um…I…sigh" Her gaze fell to the floor again.

Brian walked up to her as she leaned her back up to the hood of the suburban. He lifted her chin to gain eye contact to see what she was thinking. What he saw was confusion and a bit of fear. The fear astounded him. He couldn't understand why she would be afraid. He then grabbed his coat again and wrapped it around her along with his arms, and she wrapped her arms around his waist as they were before. Brian decided not to question their relationship again, at least not for a while. He was just content to have her in his arms, where she belonged.

Ducks from thrown veggies Dude! I swear! I was stupid, okay? Ducks from full bottled water Oi! It's okay! The next one will be a happy one! Smack…Keels over on stage….Still out cold…(whispers from audience) Dude…I think you killed her……Oops…Didn't mean to……So…What now?…Uh…runaway…Okay…


	17. Figures

**I do not own Inuyasha & co.**

Well now, this fic will definitely start moving forward a bit, ya know…Skipping months of time on end. I'm only still as far as scratching the surface, so this fic is nowhere near finished. And I'll tell ya what, all of you readers who only like to leave on review for the last chappie, if ya have anything you'd like to say about anything I've written, please don't try to hold it in 'til the last chapter. Honestly, I'm toying with the idea of this fic not even having an ending. ;-) So, please tell me what you think, okay? I'd really appreciate it. I've been holding so much info for the present back due to having to start all the way at the beginning of everything, so you can imagine how quickly I'm trying to get to the present. What I'm afraid of is how hard it will be to update every week once I've caught up. So please, don't be afraid to comment, okay? Enjoy!

**Chapter 17: Figures**

Katie and Brian had stuck together through the hurdle of 'The Ex' for about a couple of months. Valentine's day was coming soon, and funnily enough, still no word from Jason. Brian still held his anger and disappointment inside. He knew Katie needed him by her side to help her. She didn't like the fighting attitude. All Brian could think about was how Jason was more than likely cheating on Katie. Especially since he hadn't come out to West High to visit since October, and how he hadn't answered her calls, or even come by her specifically.

It amazed him to no end how devoted and faithful Katie was to any man she loved. It angered him knowing that she tried to do that for both of them at the same time. But, he was afraid he'd loose her if he pointed that out, or acted upon that anger. 'Man, she knows how to keep the puppy begging, doesn't she?' He thought to himself as he looked at a bouquet of flowers, and the box of chocolates in his hand. He was beginning to wonder if it was worth it. She was ignoring his heart that he had been holding out to her all that time. At least that was how it seemed to him.

As he handed the cashier the money for the bouquet of flowers and the box of chocolates, he just shrugged when the lady asked how long they had been together. The lady raised an eyebrow at him. Since there was no one behind him, and it was pretty late, she folded her arms and said, "Spill it, Romeo."

Brian was shocked that a total stranger even cared about his relationship. "Well, we were dating until her ex came into the picture. Ya see, she realized she wasn't over him yet when she started dating me, and he came around again and told her he still loved her. She's confused, so she broke it off between us so she wouldn't hurt me, but she said she wanted to get to know me still. So, I'm being there for her in hopes she'll recognize my heart again, even though the jackass has no clue what he has pinning over him when he totally ignores her…Tsch" Brian drawled out as he crossed his arms over his chest, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

"Oh my God! You have got to be kidding me! A wonderful young man like you, waiting for a girl to make up her mind? Geeze! I wouldn't wait. Is she worth all this?"

"Yes. She's worth any heartache. I'd go through fire for her." Brian stated proudly.

"Wow. Does she know that?" The lady inquired.

"Yes. She knows. And she told me that she's glad to have me near. She feels terrible about it, but she said she could never forgive herself if she hadn't dropped our relationship from dating to friends. She was beginning to feel like she was cheating on me. I have to give her that much for being honest about how she feels, and about her heart."

"Wow…Sounds confusing…Well, good luck and I hope those gifts will help." The cashier offered with a smile and a nod.

"Thank you, so do I." Brian answered as he turned and walked out the door.

'Funny how strangers seem to know what's going on, even if we don't say anything.' Brian thought to himself as he got into his mother's Dodge Spirit. He was allowed to drive the car every now and then when his mom didn't need it.

During school the next day, Brian stopped Katie at her locker. He had a smile on his face, his hands kept behind his back. Katie looked him in the eye and asked him what he was hiding. 

He chuckled a bit and said, "Hold out your hands and close your eyes."

Katie gave him an inquisitive look, but did as he asked. That's when he placed the chocolates in her hands and then placed a flower from the bouquet in her hair. Katie opened her eyes when he allowed her to, and she saw him holding a big bouquet of flowers. They were a mix of carnations, roses, and daisies. It was beautiful. She looked at the box of chocolates, opened it quickly, shoved a piece in his mouth and offered him to do the same for her.

Once they both had their pieces of chocolate, she grabbed the flowers and said she'd carry them with her throughout the whole day proudly. To see her graciously accept his gifts made him happy. She even grabbed a card and a small box of convo hearts just for him. He ate them throughout the day, keeping the box in his pocket. The day went fast, and Katie kept getting questioned by her peers about who the bouquet was from. When she told them, they all cuddled their arms and responded with, "Awww…Wish I had a boyfriend who would do that for me."

Katie felt very special that day, and she would never forget it. But, getting the flowers and the candy from Brian wasn't all that made February 14th, 1996 a day she would never forget. Exactly a year ago, her dad had promised her with a new car! Of course, it wasn't going to be hers per say, but it would be bought that very day with her in mind.

Her parents went out to buy a 1992 Caprice Classic. White, of course, with dark blue interior, and the complete looks of a cop car. It was beautiful, and it rode like a charm. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle, just that the previous owners just wanted the newest and last model year made. After Katie's dad drove and she rode in the Caprice home that night, they had cooked up dinner, and were about to eat, when they received a phone call.

The phone call happened to be about an accident with Katie's Grandmother, Marion. Apparently, Patrick's mother collapsed earlier that day, and hit her head on her dresser. She was rushed to the hospital. Tests and x-rays already taken. The family rushed out to Berwyn, IL to see what was found and what the cause could have been.

The family was distraught and hoped it was just a moment of unconsciousness. Well, it turned out she had collapsed due to her not getting enough oxygen in her system. They looked at the x-rays and saw that her lungs were full of cancer. Her lungs would be the indicator of how much longer she would live. The doctors wanted to radiate her chest to see if they could get rid of the cancer, and the Lindens refused. Marion had only requested for a place to rest for her last days.

A resting place was what she received as she only lived one month longer, to March 15th. Marion was not known as the loved Grandmother amongst Tabitha and Katie. Due to their parents were related as second cousins, Marion never truly accepted the union. And in having those feelings, she treated Tabitha and Katie as the misfits of the grandchildren. To Marion, they could never do anything she had ever asked them to do correctly. She believed they were worthless grandchildren. She gave Paula a lot of stress, and she considered her feelings right over anyone else's.

To the Linden's, Marion was the Matriarch of the family. The family was only getting bigger, more kids were introduced every few years, and of course, the Christmas's were beginning to get interesting. Marion would only have the presents opened one way, Always on Christmas Eve, and it had to always start with the youngest of the family to the oldest, her of course. Save the best for last, in her eyes…Yeah right…The only good part about the past year as far as Tabitha, Katie and Marion were concerned was that fall to that point in time, when Marion finally found good things in Tabitha and Katie.

Tabitha found her niche in college, and found a man who was a penny pincher, like her. Katie began voice lessons and finally made her vocal talent known to Marion. That was all Marion wanted Katie to do for her, was to sing. It didn't matter what song she sang, just as long as her voice was heard in her ears. Patrick had even bought Katie a Karaoke machine so she could sing to her hearts content with a microphone and she could make tapes for the family of her singing.

Then when the fateful day for Marion came, she asked the family to gather around her bed in the nursing home, and she gave each member of the family her last words of love, and told them how she truly felt for all of them. That day, even after the rough life Patrick lived under her roof and her thumb, she finally said the words he never heard her say, or even expected her to say. She said she loved him. Hearing those three words come from her mouth made him bow his head and cry. He knew his father loved him through his short life, dying at forty of a heart attack in his sleep, but to hear that from his mother put all his feelings to rest about her.

To Tabitha and her fiancé' Brad, Marion had said how proud she was that Tabitha had found such a worthy man to take care of her, and that she was going to become a successful nurse. To Katie, she told her she was going to take her voice in her heart to heaven with her. After those words had been said, she closed her eyes and fell asleep after a shot of morphine had been given through her IV.

The next morning, Marion died peacefully, the funeral arrangements made, and everything went as planned in the past to have both Patrick's father and his mother to be laid to rest next to each other in a mausoleum.

Katie had been reminded of it due to the date. She was happy that her Grandmother was no longer suffering. Her death went over as a mercy death. She was 80 when she died. Katie remembered that as she thought about how fast things went that year.

Katie was suddenly awoken out of a trance by Brian turning her chin towards his face just to get her attention. He had driven her home from his house that night in his mother's Dodge Spirit. She hadn't noticed he had been trying to get her attention the whole way home.

"What happened? You were soo lost…Did you even hear a word I said?" Brian asked Katie as she stared at him in confusion.

"Oh! I'm sorry; I was just remembering what happened on Valentine's Day just last year." Katie mentioned.

"What happened?" He asked solemnly.

"We found out my grandma on my dad's side was gonna die." Katie replied as she turned her eyes down to her fidgeting hands.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I noticed you were gone for a week, but I had no idea that was why." Brian pointed out.

"Oh, it's okay. It was a good thing she died actually. She suffered for various health reasons throughout her life. She's at peace now. Plus, she wasn't my favorite Grandma anyways." Katie shrugged.

"Oh. So, what would you like to do tonight, after you drop off your backpack, of course?" Brian winked.

"Oh, uh…Can we go to show? Do you have enough money for that?" Katie asked.

"Sure! Would you also like to go eat?" Brian inquired.

"Yeah, I'm starved!" Katie exclaimed as they both got out of the car to take her things inside, and greet her parents to let them know what they'd be doing.

As Katie took her bouquet and put it in a vase full of water to keep the flowers alive, Brian talked to her mother and father and mentioned what the night would entail. Her parents agreed to let him take her out for the night, if he'd have her back before 11:00pm. He promised her parents, and they left the house.

They had a good time having dinner and talking. Brian had borrowed money from his parents to make sure he could give Katie a wonderful Valentine's Day to remember. Brian promised to do some housework for them to work the money off since He wasn't old enough to have a job yet.

Katie was just having a good time, and enjoying the night as friends with benefits. That night, Jason never entered her mind, not even once. They went to go see a comedy, and laughed and held each other's hands throughout the movie. It was lucky for them that they had gotten to an early show, with the possibility of shows being packed that night.

Katie had decided to skip choir practice at the church she became involved in because of Brad and Tabitha. She figured she wouldn't have been the only one to miss choir that night. So far, with every holiday, Brian had treated her to something. This would have been the best Valentine's Day she had ever had due to her not having many chances to be taken out by a guy on that holiday. Sure, she got cards, but that was about it. Most of the boyfriends she had before, they mainly lasted two weeks, and were in the fall. The longest relationship she had up to that point had been with Jason.

Brian caught her attention, and certainly did not let on that he would give up anytime soon. It surprised Katie that he stuck by her, and treated her as if she was everything to him. She began to realize she was his life. That night, when he drove her home, they parked the car across the street and turned off the ignition.

Brian turned towards her in the seat and proceeded to ask her, "So, did ya have a good time tonight?"

"Yeah, I did. Thank you very much." Katie said with a genuine smile.

"Good. I'm glad you had fun, so did I. Katie? Can you answer a question for me?"

"Sure, what is it?" Katie asked innocently.

"Are you sure you're still confused? You just seem so happy with me. I'm confused now. I know you said you didn't want to hurt me or lead me on, but I think you know that we are getting closer than just being friends. This didn't feel like friends going out on the town tonight. This felt like a date to me. I need to know how you feel about me truly, Katie." Brian drawled out, as he looked her straight in the eyes to make sure she knew he was being truthful.

Katie looked into his eyes for a moment, trying to think about how to answer him. All of the times he asked, she couldn't even get out a sentence on the matter. She hadn't thought about Jason once that night. She did have a good time, and it did truly feel like a date to her. He was right. She was confusing him. She was doing what she tried to avoid doing.

"Brian, I actually realized something tonight. While we've been together tonight, I hadn't thought about Jason at all. Not once. My world was focused on us. I was happy, as if nothing else existed or mattered. I have been doing what I tried not to, and I feel a bit terrible. Why did you stay with me if I was hurting you all this time?" Katie asked as she shifted in her seat to face him.

"You know how I feel about you, Katie. I wasn't about to give up on the chance that you would figure your head out and come back to give me a chance again. You know you mean the most to me. If I treat you like you're everything to me, it's because you are! You are all that matters in my life. Without you, I feel I have no direction or purpose. You make my life worth something, Katie." Brian responded as he grabbed hold of her hands and leaned a bit closer and gazed into her eyes with need.

"I know that, Brian. I want to be with you. Can I just take a little more time? You have proven yourself more than worthy, Hell; you're a dream come true! What I need to do is realize that the cliché' means nothing. I've just had that drilled into my head and that's all I know. I'm sorry, but I certainly am not going to deny you of another chance, Brian. I promise." Katie responded as she smiled and met his gaze with acceptance in her eyes.

Brian smiled and leaned in closer, closed his eyes, and kissed her lips finally. His hands let go as he raised his arms to go around her shoulders. She reached out and put her arms around his waist as he put his left hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss. As they played tongue hockey, they held each other close, and kissed very aggressively. Deep in their hearts, they both knew they needed each other, and these kisses were what kept it going.

Once the kiss became more aggressive, he released her lips, held her close, and then began to kiss and lick her ear. Katie had never felt that before. She released a barrage of moans and her breathe became labored as he tantalized her sensitive spots. She never felt anything soo strong before. She began to notice her body reacting to his licks and sucking in a strange way, and something was happening to her body. She began to buck her hips as she then tried to do the same to him. She reached out and stroked his leg slightly, her body knowing more than she did at that point.

What he could do to her, no other date got the chance. He could tantalize her body in ways she never thought possible. For her to be the first girl he's ever dated, was just too strange with how he was making her react. The first thing she decided she'd do when she regained control over her body was to ask him where he learned to drive her soo nuts!

"Brian…Oh God…you have no idea…What you're doing to me…How you…knew how to…drive me soo…" Katie stopped to moan loudly.

"Soo what…" He asked between kisses on her neck.

"Ahhh!...Soo nuts!...Ahhh hahaha!" Katie screamed out as he continued to suck, lick and kiss her tender spots.

Katie was getting to some sort of breaking point she had never been to before. One thing she knew was she couldn't even get herself to feeling that far over the edge! She thought she knew her body's cravings better than anyone. She realized that night, she was dead wrong. When he stopped kissing her, he pulled back and let her fall back into the passenger seat and try to catch her breathe. Even though she hadn't tantalized him, he felt like he had been pushed to his limits as well.

"Dang, I never knew you could make noises like that." Brian exclaimed.

"Ya wanna know why? Ya wanna feel what I felt?" Katie asked as she sat up, leaned in towards him and began to kiss and suck on his right earlobe. He began to moan loudly himself. He learned quickly that just this simple action made him want to pin her down and ravage her right there in the passenger seat. Some animal instinct he never knew existed wanted to take over him and make her his. That instinct was soo strong, he realized he couldn't fight it. He pushed her back to her seat and kissed her roughly as he maneuvered himself towards her seat and just pressed into her roughly. He had never felt such strong emotions before.

What was strange was he felt he had done that type of kissing before, where he pinned someone and just kissed the fuck out of that person. The strange part was, Katie was his first kiss, so where could something like that have come from? When the question came to his mind, he stopped kissing Katie, and just held her tightly to him and tried to gather his thoughts. He needed to stop otherwise they would certainly have gone too far.

"Oh God, Katie…I'm sorry…I guess I lost myself there…" Brian said between puffs of air.

"Oh! What time is it?" Katie asked as Brian turned the key in the ignition to turn on the clock on the radio. It was 10:50pm. They had ten minutes. "Brian? What should we call this? It seems that we are like being pushed together no matter how we feel about each other, doesn't it?" Katie pointed out as she tried to catch her breathe.

Brian sat there and looked at her as he breathed rapidly. "Yeah. I feel like I'll die if I can't be with you like this, but strangely it seems like I've done this before, when I haven't."

"Really? I thought you said that I was your first." Katie said.

"You are! But, I just feel like I become someone else, someone who knows what he's doing. I don't understand that other me. He's soo demanding. He wants me to take you, Katie. He wants you badly. Have you noticed that?" He asked as he took her hand in his.

"Yes, I noticed the change. What do you think this means? I've noticed that you already know what you're doing! I've never been turned on like this, not by anyone! It's like you know my body inside and out. Freaky, if you ask me." Katie explained as Brian's eyes get big and he then turns and sits back in the driver's seat.

"What should we do, Katie? That was intense. It seems that the longer we're together, we become more and more intense. It's like there's something we know about each other that we've been missing badly. What would you suggest we do?" Brian turned his gaze towards her again.

"Well, let's try to cool it. We haven't dated for all that long, and it's moving kinda fast. Plus, part of me knows we're meant to be together, and the other part is confused. I wish I knew why my heart was such an annoyance. It's like my soul is fighting my heart. I don't get it." Katie said as she sat back in her seat and faced forward.

"I guess we'll know soon enough, huh?" Brian said as he grabbed hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it.

"Yeah. We definitely have something great, don't we? Definitely something's there. The way we met was even strange, wasn't it?" Katie pointed out as Brian brought her hand to his lips for a kiss.

"Definitely. It's like we've been lead the whole time. Clearly someone or something wants us to be together whether we like it or not. I'm getting to the point where I can no longer control myself when I'm with you, Katie. I'm not a perve or anything, I just don't know what to do with myself when I'm holding or touching you. I hope you're not afraid of me." Brian added as he held her hand in both of his.

"No, I'm not afraid. But I don't want to become one of those statistics of teenage sex. That's something I pride myself on, doing things right. You agree?" Katie asked.

"Yes. I don't want to do that to you either. I love you, but I think sex will only get us into trouble. I will do what I can to control myself. I don't want to scare you, or get you pregnant." Brian added as he looked into her eyes lovingly and reached his hand towards her cheek, marveling in her beauty.

"I know. Well, I guess we should call it a night before we start up again." Katie stated, and Brian nodded in agreement. They both looked to each other, about to say goodbye when they leaned in for a goodnight kiss. Only, it wasn't a short one. Once again, the kiss got hot and heavy. They tried desperately to hold each other as close as they possibly could. Their pursuit to become one was soo evident this time the kissing even turned to petting, and touching.

That was when Katie noticed the porch light flickering on and off in front of her house. Katie pulled away from Brian and gasped at the thought of her parents seeing everything that was going on. She sat back in her seat and Brian did the same. They once again struggled to catch their breathe. They both realized that if the night were to end, they would have to forgo the goodnight kiss. Katie reached for her purse on the floor, and unlocked her door. Brian put on his seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition to hear the roar of the engine as Katie stepped out of the passenger seat.

As Katie stepped around to his side of the car, he rolled down his window and shouted, "Katie!"

Katie turned to him and gave him her full attention when he asked, "Would it be alright to just say we're together again, and stop listening to our hearts? I don't think I could take this anymore. I love you too damn much!" He said through still labored breathes.

Katie smiled. She could see all of his feelings for her in his eyes. He was surely hurting. When she saw that, she knew what her answer was. She couldn't turn him down again, no matter how much she felt for Jason. He couldn't do for her what Brian could. She stepped back towards his car and leaned her elbows in the window to look straight into his eyes.

"Yes, Brian. I'm done hurting you and me. We're together again. I can't live without you either. I love you."

Brian grabbed her head and kissed her hard, but short. He was soo happy for her answer. Happy enough that he said his goodnight, and then sped away down the road and then around the corner, squealing the wheels on his car shouting, "WOO HOO!" Loud enough for the neighborhood to hear. Katie laughed as her mother opened the door to see what the noises were all about when she saw Katie running back with a smile soo big it looked like it hurt.

Well now, wasn't that steamy? Phew! fans myself Man, these chappies keep getting more and more intense, don't ya think? But, funny enough, that was how it went. At least to the best of my knowledge. He and I did feel drawn to each other somehow, and to this day, neither one of us could explain why. But, the mystery sure is a lot of fun, wouldn't you agree?  Hee hee hee! Well, 'til next update! Ja ne!


	18. Pals

**I do not own Inuyasha.**

I can't believe how far along I am! Well, I have this chapter in my head, and I'm excited to be able to spew it out to you! LOL Okay… (Clears throat) This chapter will not focus as much on Katie and Brian, but Katie and her friendship with a very good friend of hers. Awww…C'mon! You had the juiciness last chappy! Geeze! Okay, enjoy!

**Chapter 18: Pals**

Well, Katie and Brian were doing well. A month had gone by very quickly and before she knew it, Katie had bumped into her friend Tiffany, and they both had time to hang out like old times. Tiffany was a year ahead of Katie, and had graduated in 1995. Tiffany and Katie were like two peas in a pod. Once they were in the same room, they would laugh together for hours, and they always wound up bubbly and giggly. Tiffany's friendship meant a lot to Katie, and Katie to Tiffany. On March 11th, Katie and Tiffany got together and went over to Tiffany's for the rest of the afternoon after school. They had a good time, and played with each other's hair.

Tiffany was a beautiful blonde girl. Her hair reached all the way down past her rear, and she was a bit on the heavy side, but she had a beautiful soul. Tiffany and Katie met in the concert choir during Katie's sophomore year. They were both sopranos, only Tiffany's range wasn't as high as Katie's was. The two sang next to each other every chance they got during choir. They both went into the same choir, A Capella during Tiffany's senior year. One thing they definitely had in common was 'him'. Yes, Jason. They were both good friends of Jason's.

While they were painting their nails in Tiffany's bedroom, Tiffany decided to ask Katie a question. "So, Katie…How's Jason been? Have you heard from him recently?"

Katie stopped giggling for a second and thought about her answer. She had lived without thinking about him for over a month now. She hadn't gotten around to mentioning what had transpired since that past fall. "Uh…No. I have no idea how he's been. I haven't seen or heard from him since October." Katie replied.

"Oh. What's wrong?" Tiffany asked as she noticed the somber tone in Katie's voice.

"Oh, just that he came around in October to visit the library again, and then decided to stop by and ask me if I wanted to go bike riding with him. He asked me why I hadn't asked him to Homecoming." Katie chuckled as she focused her eyes on her fingernails.

"He did? What did you do? Weren't you dating Brian at the time?" Tiffany asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I told him I had a bad case of pink eye and I missed it myself. He told me he was sorry, but he also told me he still loved me and wanted to start up the relationship again. I told him I already had a boyfriend. I don't know. I got soo confused I had to break it off with Brian though." Katie sighed.

"WHAT? You broke up with Brian? Oh my God!" Tiffany shouted.

"Yup. I had to. I didn't want to cheat on Brian. He's to good a guy."

"But Jason lives over an hour away! And you said yourself, he didn't come see you, call you…It's as if he jumped off the face of the earth! I think you made a dumb move there, Katie." Tiffany stated.

"It's okay now, we're back together. I realized I couldn't stay away from Brian or put him at a distance any longer. I kinda gave in to my heart and let my head go on vacation." Katie said as her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Good. You made the right choice. So, you think mister Fair-weather is gonna wait for you to invite him to prom?" Tiffany giggled.

Katie laughed as she said, "I bet he's waiting for it now!" They both laughed for a few seconds until Tiffany came up with a wild idea. She grabbed her phone and lifted her eyebrow at Katie.

"What?" Katie asked.

"How about we find out how quickly he answers, huh?" Tiffany said with a deviant sparkle in her eye.

Katie's cheeks reddened as she stared at the phone. "Why? I don't really want to talk to him."

"That's okay; I'll do all the talking. Plus, he hasn't heard from or seen me since your sister's wedding last year. I think he'll be tickled pink to hear from me." Tiffany said as she wiggled her butt on her bed just to get Katie to laugh.

"Okay, just tell me what he says after the convo's over, okay?" Katie mentioned.

"That's fine. This'll be fun…" Tiffany squeaked as she dialed his number.

The phone rang for a few seconds then a man's voice answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jason?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"It's Tiffany, remember me? From Prom and Katie's sister's wedding?"

"Oh! Hi! How are you? It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, since the wedding. So, what's new, dude?"

"Yeah, that long? Geeze! Time flies. Well, not much. Just hanging out with friends and my girlfriend." Tiffany's eyes opened just a bit more at that last line 'my girlfriend'.

"Oh yeah? That's cool, so whatcha doin'?" Tiffany inquired, trying to keep it vague for Katie's sake.

"Oh, we're at my house playing pool. Not much to do around here during the winter." Jason shrugged.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, you're still buds with Katie, right?" Jason inquired suddenly.

"Uh…yeah. Why?" Tiffany asked sheepishly.

"Oh. No reason." Jason spouted.

"Why?" Tiffany asked again.

"It's nothing." Jason threw back.

"Whyyyyyy…?" Tiffany was getting an even more devious glint in her eye, making Katie a bit nervous.

"sigh Okay. I was curious about her, that's all."

"Uh huh…suuuuure…Yeah…I reeeeealy buy that one…" Tiffany threw at him.

"Okay, I was wondering if she still talks about me. Ya know, if she's still head up on me. I was curious because I got a lot of girls interested in me up here at school." Jason released finally.

"Uh…I don't know. I haven't seen her lately. Why?" Tiffany faked.

"Oh. Well, I was wondering if she was gonna ask me to prom this year. Mine is on a different day." Jason pointed out.

Tiffany had to try hard to hold it in, her face beet red. Katie leaned over and whispered, "What? What did he say?" Tiffany covered the receiver and told her they were right. Katie put her hands over her mouth as she tried desperately to hold in her own laughter.

Tiffany composed herself and then put the receiver up to her ear once again, watching Katie try not to laugh. "Why don't you call her? I'm sure she would like to hear from you."

"No. I don't have the time. I've been really busy this semester. That's why I was asking you. I was hoping you'd know."

"Nope, I haven't even seen her either since the wedding. I just thought I'd give you a ring and see what's been happening with you. I've been really busy with college and stuff. Go ahead and give her a call. If you don't catch her at home, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to call you back." Tiffany suggested.

"I told you, I can't. Please, can you call her and then call me right back?" Jason asked.

"No, this concerns you and her, I'm not the middle man. If you wanna go to her prom, you call her. You guys used to date, why are you afraid to call her and ask her?" Katie was really nervous now. Something wasn't right. Jason had never turned away an opportunity to talk to her like that. Strange. He didn't wanna call her? Why not?

"Well, Okay…I'll try." Jason said finally. "Listen, I gotta get going now, my girlfriend's calling me. It was nice talking to ya." Jason said as a girl's voice came up in the background.

"You better! I'll talk to you soon, and good luck. Bye, Jason."

"Bye, Tiffany." Click.

Tiffany hung up the phone and looked at Katie with a straight face. Katie sat up straighter, ready for the news. "Well, here's the jist. He was hoping you were planning to call him to ask him to prom. But here's the funny part…He has a girlfriend." Tiffany gave Katie a serious look as if she was an idiot.

"He does? Did he say how long they had been dating?" Katie asked.

"Nope. I didn't ask him 'cause I didn't want him to get suspicious. He said he would still go to prom with you because his prom was on a different day than yours. Can you believe the nerve of him?! He has a girlfriend, and he still wants to go to prom with you, girl!" Tiffany shouted in jealousy.

"Oh my…What an idiot!" Katie laughed out as she grabbed her tummy and rolled on her side. Tiffany started laughing as well. What a weird situation!

"So, what was with the stuff about him not wanting to call me?" Katie asked.

"Oh. He was wondering if I knew how you felt about him. I asked him why and he said that he was wondering if you were still head up on him."

"And?" Katie asked.

"Well, he said he was wondering because he had a lot of girls at school after him. Sounds like our Jason has become quite the sugar daddy…" Tiffany spelled out.

"Well, he did tell me about his antics at school since he moved up there while we were dating." Katie spilled out suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Tiffany asked.

"He's not a virgin, Tiff. He's had sex already. He's not the same person I knew before he moved. I think he's some gigolo or something up there. He knows what he's doing, Tiff. I believe now that he had probably cheated on me all along. Brian was right. He may be in love with me, but he did tell me when we shared our first kiss that he wanted me badly. I rejected his offer. He scared me that day. It was the perfect set-up for me to have lost my innocence with him. Believe me, it was a close call." Katie drawled out, making the atmosphere turn to a serious one. The look on Katie's face angered Tiffany. He obviously hurt her.

"Well, then I believe you made the right choice. Don't even bother calling Jason. Just let him have his fun. From what you said, it sounds like he may be comparing girls to you and he's finding out he can't. Let him be an idiot, that's what I say." Tiffany shrugged and put her hand on Katie's shoulder for reassurance. The rest of the evening, they talked, giggled and laughed. Katie stayed over for dinner, and they said their goodbyes at the end of the evening.

* * *

The next morning, Katie decided she would mention the phone call to Brian to let him know that her heart was finally free. She was happy to know the confusion was over, and that she could fully give her heart to Brian. She realized she had her heart back all along. She went through the day with a light heart. She couldn't wait to tell Brian the good news.

When A Cappella Choir came up, she right away walked up to Brian. He was surprised to see her soo enthusiastic. She asked him to come to a corner of the room away from the other kids as the bell rang.

"So, what's got you all happy, babe?" Brian smiled.

"Well, I just wanted to give you some wonderful news." Katie said as her eyes sparkled, and her smile spread across her face.

"What's that?" Brian asked as his arms snaked around her waist, bringing her closer for a kiss.

"Well, my heart now completely belongs to you." Katie said with a glowing smile.

"Really? What happened?" Brian asked enthusiastically.

"Well, ya know how I went and spent some time with Tiffany last night? Well, she got this crazy idea to call Jason and talk to him to find out what he's been up to. I acted as if I wasn't there. We found out what his plans were, and I just wanna say…I believe you now. You were right about him. He's a player. He's been cheating on me the whole time. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, and I'm sorry I took time with me away from you. I love you, and I'm completely yours." Katie said as she looked him in the eyes, giving him the assurance that she meant every word.

Brian was soo happy inside, he felt as if flying was overrated. He smiled and embraced Katie tightly as he kissed her neck and said, "I love you too, and I'm the luckiest guy alive to have all of your heart, my love. You have no idea how happy this makes me." Brian said as he put his hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes lovingly.

The gaze they shared felt like it lasted forever. Then Brian leaned in and their lips locked in the tenderest kiss they had ever shared. That was when the teacher walked up behind them and reminded them that the class had been watching the romantic scene from start to finish. As they turned around, the class laughed and Katie and Brian shared another kiss on purpose, just to hear the whoops and hollers. They both felt on top of the world. Nothing could get them off their pedestals that day.

* * *

Well now…I know how you all love the juicy chappies, so I decided to end it with a small bit of romance and a happy ending. I know this one was a bit shorter than my other chapters, but I figured I wanted to focus on Katie's (My) revelation. This was soo important in the relationship, and you will see why soon here. There are only a few more chapters to go before I will be speeding things up and I will warn you, I may be skipping plenty of time here with the next few chappies. Believe me, you won't miss much. So, 'til next chapter, and again…Thank you very much for your support. Whether you just view the fic, or you actually find it in your heart to give me a Christmas review!

Ja ne!


	19. Magic Night

**I do not own Inuyasha & co.**

Well, folks…Here's another chappy! Phew, now that the confusion's over, and Jason's not gonna butt in…shifts eyes Things will be a bit easier to grasp. We will be meeting some new characters here, and there will be plenty of time skips, as in months of time between chapters due to nothing important to the plot happening. This is where it may get difficult for me due to having to remember timelines and such. Well, anyways…enough of my rambling. On with the fic!

**Chapter 19: Magic Night**

Brian and Katie had the most wonderful times after they got together, hence the regrets Katie will forever hold in her heart, no matter how many times Brian told her she had no reason to regret anything. He was just happy she allowed him to be near her that whole time. True, he couldn't kiss her during those months, but it all turned out fine in the end.

After they got back together, Katie knew what she had decided for her senior prom. She wanted to share that night with Brian. They got all the arrangements set for the night of magic. The only thing left 'til the last minute, was her dress. Katie just couldn't decide on a dress.

Katie decided to tell Brian to rent a simple black tuxedo and not to worry about matching her dress. She wanted to make it easy on him as far as price, since he had never rented a tuxedo before. When it came to a week before prom, she finally decided to go to the last store she had not yet gone to. She went to the mall.

The last prom she went to, she bought her dress at a bridal shop. This time, she bought one off the wrack at a department store. She thought it would suite her best since she knew no one would be wearing the same dress, whereas the year before, four other girls had the same dress as she did…odd.

The dress she found was a simple black form flattering dress. It was floor length. The skirt was black satin, which was form flattering at the waist and hips, and then flared gently towards the floor. The bodice was black velvet sweetheart top with spaghetti straps of rhinestones. She decided she would borrow her mother's black formal shall, and she bought a purse at the mall to match her dress. She found a pair of black shoes that fit and she found some rhinestone jewelry to match the spaghetti straps. She knew it was simple, but very elegant. Her mother only spent about $130 overall ensemble, as opposed to the $250 she had spent on the expensive dress the year before.

The couple decided they would have Brian drive, and save some money. Most students would have rented a limo, but they chose not to when his mother said she would lend him the van for the night. As late afternoon came along, Katie had gotten home from her appointment with the hairdresser. Her hair was up in a French twist with her hair cascading down the back here and there. Babies breathe and a couple of rhinestone bobby pins amongst the curls.

Katie was soo excited she couldn't wait to see Brian's reaction to how she looked all dressed up. What she was the most excited about was seeing Brian in a tuxedo. She had not seen him dressed up yet, so she saw that night as a treat. As she waited for him to arrive, she watched the front yard from the living room couch. She wanted to make sure she could make a b-line quickly for the bedroom where she would hide when he arrived.

As her father watched a television show about 'Dung Beetles'…for the third time…She sat and fidgeted, her legs jittering. She couldn't watch the television any longer. She decided to look at her father with an odd look on her face.

Patrick saw her staring at him, and he responded with, "What?"

"Ech…How can you watch this and not feel like you're gonna barf?" Katie asked.

"It's interesting. Why?"

"Okay…What on earth would I use this information for? Are you gonna use information on Dung Beetles for something in the future?" Katie asked.

Patrick shrugged his shoulders as he looked back to the television and just kept on watching the little tiny bug add 'dung' to this ball that was over ten times it's size. Katie sighed as she then yelled for her mother to get him to change the channel. The last thing she wanted was for Brian to walk in and see him watching the most disgusting television show while he was picking her up for the prom.

Paula came into the living room, grabbed the remote from Patrick and turned the channel to one of those music channels on the satellite connection. The music was smooth jazz, much more appropriate for background music when Brian sees the vision he'd be taking to prom. Katie then relaxed a bit, knowing her father wouldn't embarrass her. About ten minutes later, Brian pulled up in the van. As soon as Katie saw him arrive, she bolted for her bedroom. When the doorbell rang, Paula ran to answer it.

Katie stood right behind her closed door, listening to the conversation going on with her mother and her date. She heard her mother compliment him left and right on how great he looked. She even took a few pictures of him, like she had done with Katie earlier before the dung beetle show came on. Katie figured she would show those to Brian when her mom got them developed.

Finally, Paula called for Katie to come out. Katie opened her bedroom door and walked slowly down the hall, no sight of Brian. It seemed like it took forever for her to get down the hallway when she reached the end. As she came around the corner, she turned and looked Brian in the eyes with a wide smile.

Brian looked at Katie and his cheeks reddened immediately. His face lit up, and he eyed her from floor to eyes. She was a vision. He had never seen a woman soo beautiful. He couldn't bring it to words how he felt just standing there looking at her from across the room. The look in her eyes told him she knew what she was doing to him. Brian was all chocked up. He couldn't get out anything but, "God you're beautiful."

Katie's cheeks blushed when he stated her looks like that in front of her parents, but it was the best compliment she had ever received on her looks from a guy. "Thank you, handsome." Katie responded as she walked towards him and rubbed her hand over his soft, short red hair.

He picked up the corsage he bought for her. Only problem was, he had ordered one that was meant to be a wrist corsage, but it turned out to be a pin-on corsage, and there really wasn't much space for him to pin it on her top, at least without it looking like he was aiming to fondle Katie in front of her parents.

They all laughed about the mistake, and Katie pulled out a pair of black, elbow length gloves she had bought with the dress, and said he could try to pin it on her glove. He decided to let her mother try to pin it on her top so it wouldn't be in the way. Once they finally got the corsage pinned on, it was time for a few pictures before they left for the evening. Paula had pulled the couple into the kitchen where there was a white wall for them to stand against as the backdrop. After a few pictures taken of the couple, they were sent off.

The prom was held at a rich hotel, the Hyatt. That was where Katie's previous prom had been at. Katie knew how to get there, whereas Brian hadn't. Once they arrived, they found their table, sat down and waited to see what peers the committee had chosen to sit at their table with them. They sat and talked as they watched the other students file in couple by couple.

Brian looked proud to have her with him. He held her hand the whole time they waited at the table. He even stole a few kisses and caresses of her face as he tried to bring to words how he felt she looked. Katie thought he was soo sweet. Since he couldn't get the words out, but it seemed like he had so much to say, she just tried to finish his sentences.

"Stop that! If you keep finishing them for me, then it'll sound like it's from you!" Brian pointed out as he held her hand.

"Sorry, just giving you ideas…You seem like your stumbling over words you've never said before." Katie giggled.

"Geeze, don't make me out to be the idiot." He said as he let go of her hand and turned towards the table, he looked embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I really don't mean to steal your steam. It's sweet that you're trying to find the words to express how you feel. It's okay. You don't have to say anything fancy, or poetic." Katie responded.

"sigh I'm sorry I can't say things that way. I feel clumsy" Brian pointed out.

"Naw. You're very sweet, Brian. I still love you. I don't think there's ever been a compliment you've said that I didn't appreciate." Katie expressed.

"Thanks. Phew!" Brian expressed as he let his hair down, so to speak. Knowing he didn't have to be a Don Juan on a night like that to make her happy, helped things a lot.

Once they finished their conversation, a couple appeared at the table across from them. Brian and Katie looked forward to see who had shown up, and it was Katie's friend Millie and her boyfriend Josh. Millie ran around the table and gave Katie a hug, while Josh and Brian shook hands. Katie and Millie had known each other for about five years, and they palled around often. Brian knew Millie from school and they lived just a few blocks away from each other.

Strangely enough, Millie had made claims of asking Brian out in junior high and supposedly, Brian had dated her for a day, but then changed his mind. To that day, Brian had denied that ever happened. Katie wasn't jealous. She figured it was a simple misunderstanding and never held it against either one. The evening brought only one other couple to sit with them at their table. A couple who kept to themselves most of the time, and spent most of the prom on the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Katie and Brian decided to get to know Millie's new boyfriend, Josh. From what they could tell, Millie was not using her brain. The young man was from another school, so Katie and Brian had never heard of him before. He seemed a little more on the domineering side of the spectrum, and had a bit of a 'know it all' attitude, which kind of annoyed Brian. Brian felt he had held conversations with individuals who had been way ahead of Josh in intelligence.

When Millie and Josh left the table for refreshments, Brian turned to Katie and asked, "Where did she leave her brain?"

Katie laughed and said, "I have no clue. I didn't introduce him to her…My best guess would be she left it with her ex-boyfriend."

"Oh…figures. He was weirder than weird." Brian said as he shivered at the thought of her ex.

Before Josh, Millie had a boyfriend named Mark. The strange thing about him was he was supposedly telepathic. How Katie figured that out was he was able to read her mind, word for word and repeat her thoughts back to her, verbatim. That, and he was supposedly able to change stoplights at will…Katie found that to more than likely be coincidence. Katie did not like Mark. The reason other than his brainpower was the fact that he was also interested in Katie. When he and Millie broke up, the first person Mark called on was Katie. Katie told him she was Millie's best friend, and in turn to her, she could not date Millie's ex. After that incident, Katie never heard from Mark again.

The sad part was Katie and Brian began to think she had lost her mind. Millie had no idea who she was involved with, or what true love was. She seemed like she was floundering and just getting attention from anyone. She had a troubled life before Katie met her. Katie had tried to be an example for her through those times before that night, but she was beginning to think her efforts were in vain. The whole time Millie and Josh sat across from Brian and Katie, they did nothing but argue.

The first thing Brian wanted was to get out of there so he'd be away from Josh. When the dinner ended, Katie asked Brian if he'd dance with her. He looked at her sheepishly and said, "I can't dance."

That answer astounded Katie. The first night she saw him, he was singing and dancing on the stage in front of everyone in that audience. She didn't believe him, so she decided to ask him once again, only sweeter to the psyche.

"Well, how about a slow dance? We can go up the next slow song that plays. I just want to dance at least one with you. Ya know, Tuxes and dinner gowns were meant to dance together. Did ya know that?" Katie let out sweetly as she reached for his hand and studied his fingers.

"Oh. Okay, we'll wait for the next slow dance." Brian replied as he turned his hand to hold hers and kissed the back of it, sending chills starting from his lips all the way down her spine. That always brought a smile to her face.

They turned their chairs around and watched everyone dance on the dance floor for a bit, when the slow song they talked about came up, and Katie turned to Brian as he stood up out of his chair and offered his hand. Katie accepted and they walked out onto the dance floor as the song, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" played over the speakers.

Katie felt like she was in heaven in his arms, and within his gaze. As the song flowed on, the couple slowly swayed in place, turning very slightly. The rest of the couples who littered the dance floor disappeared. No one else existed but them. They were lost in their own little world, least until they noticed the place had gone silent for a second. They stopped swaying and stood there in each other's arms when a pair of arms wrapped around Katie's waist from behind unexpectedly.

"Awww…Look at you two! You guys look soo happy!" Millie sang as Katie released her hold of Brian and turned around to face her.

"We do?" Katie asked.

"Yeah. Hey, we're gonna get going early. You guys wanna meet us at the River walk in Naperville?" Millie asked.

"Oh, sure. We still have plenty of time before the Prom All-nighter starts. Sure, we can go there. It's on the way anyways." Katie shrugged.

"Okay, we'll see you guys there then! We have to stop at my uncle's house to pick up something, and then we'll meet you there!" Mille shouted as the music started up again with a fast beat.

As they walked away, hand in hand, Brian shouted, "Where's this River walk? I've never been there!"

"Oh! It's in Naperville, south of Route 34!" Katie replied.

"Yeah, and? That doesn't tell me much!" Brian yelled as they began to walk away from the frenzy of dancers.

Once they reached a quieter spot, Katie answered with, "I know where it's at. I'll direct you there."

"Okay. What is this place, anyways? And why would you want to even bother with those two?" Brian asked.

"Well, they asked, and I would soo love to go there with you. I've wanted to go there with you for a while. It's beautiful. Plus, it's actually on the way home, and it's not out of the way." Katie responded as she smiled innocently.

"Okay, but I don't want to be around them too long. If we spend too much time around that idiot, I'm afraid I'll wind up punching his lights out. I hate that guy." Brian growled out in contempt.

"You really feel that way? Wow…okay, we won't spend much time with them there. Just let me know when you're about to loose it, k?" Katie mentioned.

After that, the four left the prom early to retreat to a much quieter and peaceful setting. They entered their separate cars and drove out of the parking lot of the hotel. Katie and Brian proceeded towards Naperville as Millie and Josh turned off a different route. When Katie and Brian arrived at the River walk, it wasn't too crowded, and like Katie had expected, it was quiet and serene.

Katie had heard that the Naperville River walk was known for romantic getaways during prom for Napervillians, and Katie wanted to see just how romantic it could be. First, they waited by the gazebo for a while, and they watched the ducks swim down the shallow river. They looked at the time on Brian's watch as they walked and noticed it had been an hour since they had arrived. Still no Millie or Josh.

"You're right, this place is romantic. Especially with it being just the two of us here." Brian pointed out as they sat down on a bench and he put his arm around her.

Katie got a pinch from the corsage pin and pulled away from Brian. She removed the corsage from her dress and held on to it as she leaned into him. "I'm glad we got the chance to be alone. Ya know, I agree with you on Josh. I don't know what Millie's thinking. I'm gonna have to yell at her later." Katie mentioned.

"You yell at her? I would kick her in the butt!" Brian exclaimed.

"That too. Well, has the Prom All-nighter started?" Katie asked as she looked at his watch.

"I don't know. What time is it?" Brian asked as he scratched his head.

"It's about 9 o'clock. I guess we could head on over there." Katie said as she began to feel a headache beginning to start. She then rubbed her forehead a bit for comfort.

"You okay?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go." Katie said with a smile.

They arrived at the Fox Valley Park District building for the Prom All-nighter. When they arrived, they each received an envelope full of play money for gambling, as well as a meal ticket for a snack during the night. The rooms were filled with booming music, and all the dealers were teachers. Each table was a different game and there were many different ways set-up for making some dough.

Katie had been to two other Prom All-nighters before that one, and she had every intention of sticking to the black jack tables and just keeping a steady flow of her cash. She always broke even if not made money at the black jack tables. Brian had never been to an All-nighter, and kinda wandered around to find the right game and the right venue. After about an hour, Katie noticed Brian was nowhere in sight. She gathered her money and walked away form the black jack table where she had planted herself.

She wandered from room to room, and even looked at the food line to see if he had gone to catch a snack. Coming up trumps, she went to the last room down the hall. That last room was the furthest from the music, and had the least amount of people in it. In the middle of the room was a craps table. At that very craps table, stood her date. He was a vision. His tuxedo jacket was finally taken off and was laid on the edge of the table just beside him. He stood at the edge of the table with the dice in his hand, shakin' 'em up. As Katie came closer to the table, she watched his every move as he threw the dice down to the other end of the table.

As he stood and waited for the result of that throw, he watched intently. He did not even notice his date had entered the room, like a fly watching him from the wall. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He reminded her of a gambling addict, like the ones she had seen in movies. Someone who knew how to win the big bucks just by being smooth. The funny part was she had no idea he knew how to play craps when he had never set foot in a casino.

Mesmerized by her vision of a date throwing dice before her, she had forgotten about her headache and just grabbed a chair in the distance. She watched him from the opposite side of the table from where he stood. She saw the girls standing next to him, and hoped they would not hang all over her man. She had been there for about ten minutes when he finally noticed she was there. He smiled and then handed the dice off to the girl next to him.

He stepped away from the table, walked up to his date and grabbed her hand. He brought her hand up to his mouth for a kiss, and then asked, "Like what you've been watching?"

"Yeah. I thought you said you've never gambled before." Katie point out.

"I haven't." Brian shrugged.

"Then how did you learn Craps? You looked like you knew what you were doing." Katie mentioned.

Brian laughed and pulled her out of the chair. "You enjoy watching me?"

"Yeah. If I was a fly, I would follow you everywhere." Katie mentioned.

Brian shook his head and said, "I can't be that interesting."

"You are! It makes me happy just to watch you do things." Katie said.

"Like what?"

"Anything. Doesn't matter what you do, I like watching you. I watched you for a year before we met." Katie shrugged.

"You did? You're weird."

"But I'm your weirdo, ya know." Katie giggled.

"Yeah, you could say that." Brian agreed as her headache began to come back as they reached the loudest room in the complex.

Katie tried to bite back the pain as they arrived in the room where the loud music was coming from. The music was coming from the company that did the music videos with the green screen set-up. She had done plenty of those videos when she had gone to the other All-nighters. She decided she would do one when she felt a little better. That was when she was spotted by her buddy John.

John called her over and told her that he and a few of her old pals from when her sister was going to West were going to make a video. Apparently, their buddy Maurice was there with a girl from Katie's class. Maurice graduated the year before, and he was good friends with the family. Katie decided she would join them in a video done to the song, "Baby Got Back". She asked Brian if he would join her, and he shied out of it. Katie decided to go along with everything and made the video with her friends. The video was soo funny, everyone in the room cracked up.

They enjoyed themselves until the night ended, and it came time to find out who won the most tickets because of how much money they turned in at the end of the night. They gave out prizes to those who got the four highest amounts of money earned. Who was number one? Well, Brian, of course. Katie's eyes got big when they called his name to go up and grab his prize.

When he sat back down, Katie asked him, "I knew you did really well at craps!"

Brian looked at her, shook his head and said, "I didn't win all that from craps. Actually, that money was given to me by a guy who was leaving early."

"Oh. How much did you make?" Katie asked.

"I made about half of it. I lost a lot at that craps table actually." Brian shrugged.

"Oh. I had no idea. Well, let's get on home, shall we?" Katie mentioned as they dove home in his mother's van.

The next day was uneventful, but it held romance nonetheless, as Katie and Brian decided to spend the day together, and go to see a movie. They cuddled as they sat and watched the movie, 'Twister'. Since Katie was really into the weather, especially tornados, it was perfect for the couple. They may not have done anything spectacular the day after prom, but they enjoyed themselves just the same.

* * *

Well, now…Longer chapter than usual, huh? Yeah, that was my senior prom in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Hint towards the next installment, is Graduation Day! See you soon!

Songs mentioned in this chapter are: 'Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman' by Bryan Adams

'Baby Got Back' by Sir Mix-A-Lot


	20. Dream Trio

**I do not own Inuyasha Co.**

Yes! The hiatus is over! Well, I already know what this chapter will be about. This chapter will contain some dream sequences. Though the significance will not come 'til much later, I will be bringing the story along and skipping some time frames. So sit back and enjoy this interesting chapter.

**Chapter 20: Dream Trio**

My father and I are walking somewhere. It's in the city, on a crowded store side sidewalk.

"Are Mom and Tabby meeting us there?"

"Yeah, they'll be there in a bit."

"Okay, we're just about there." I sighed.

I was not looking forward to this, but what was it I was doing? Why am I here? This street looks familiar, but yet it doesn't. Where am I? Only my dad is with me and he looks somber. Why is he sad? I've never seen him like this. Where is Brian? Why isn't he with us?

We come to this storefront and walk in. The store in nothing but a front desk, one guy standing at the desk and no cash register. The walls were covered with nothing but what looked to be file cabinets. Is this some sort of filing company?

"Welcome, ma'am. What number?" The clerk asked.

"719" I said suddenly.

The clerk walks up to the wall on the right side and up to the door marked 719. He unlocks it and pulls it forward. What came out were not files, but a long silver bullet like piece of material. I walk up to it. It's not what I think it is. I look on the end of it; I see a face…Its…Brian's face!

* * *

Katie sat up suddenly in her bed, breathing heavily. "I can't believe what I saw! I saw Brian's casket! He was dead! That was why he wasn't with us." Katie sat there and began to cry. She and Brian have become close since Prom and they had seen each other every weekend since her graduation.

Brian had gotten involved with this camp involved in his district. He was three towns north of his hometown, and he was only free during the weekends and Wednesday evenings. Brian was an Eagle Scout, and he and his friend, Ted, both decided to fulfill their Eagle Scout duties and help out the camp. Brian was the manager of the general store, while Ted was in charge of activities. Brian was able to call Katie during his off hours, but she missed seeing Brian.

What had caused her to dream about his death was beyond her. Yes, she missed him, but he wasn't in any immediate danger. It was hard for them to be away from each other for even one day after they got back together. Katie's parents allowed her to go up on Wednesday nights to see him.

The Wednesday after the dream, she went to go see him to tell him about her dream and see how he was doing. That night, they were having what they called 'Fun' night. The girl and boy scouts in charge were going to play games in the forest. One of the games was Capture the Flag. It seemed as if no matter what Katie did; Brian was all caught up in what was going on with the other camp leaders. She took him off to his cabin to tell him about the dream she had, but they didn't really get to chat much due to everyone going in and out of his cabin the whole time.

Obviously, Brian and Ted were having a great time. They had what was called the 'fun' cabin because they had the video game systems hooked up along with a TV in their cabin. Katie found out very quickly that she was nothing more than a distraction while she was there. Brian couldn't focus on her while she was there that night. He took her to the clubhouse after they realized they couldn't get any privacy in his cabin.

They found the clubhouse empty and sat down at a picnic table. Brian asked her why she had come all the way out there when he told her he was busy that night. Katie finally told him about her dream and how shaken up she was about it.

"Katie, it's just a dream. I'm okay see? I'm not dead and I don't think anything terrible is gonna happen to me while I'm here." He assured her as he held her hands.

"I know, I just was a bit shaken and I couldn't go another day without seeing you." Katie said as she looked into his eyes longingly.

"I'm sorry I'm so busy, honey. But do ya think we can get together this weekend? That would be much easier." Brian mentioned.

"Why not tonight? You are free to do whatever ya want, as long as it's here, right?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, but they need me for the games they're playing tonight. Plus, we won't really get much privacy here, if ya know what I mean. They're all over the place tonight."

Brian wasn't much for showing affections towards Katie while others were around. He was very shy about that in public. While no one was around, it was another story.

"They know you have a girlfriend, right?" Katie pressed.

"Yeah." Brian shrugged.

"Well tell them you need them to leave you alone for tonight. They have to understand, you need time alone too, right?" Katie begged.

"I've tried that. Please, this will not be easy for us tonight. How about I spend a little more time with ya tonight and then we can get together all we want on the weekend?" Brian asked.

Katie pouted and said, "How about I wait in your cabin 'til you're done. You're just gonna play a game, right?"

"Yeah, but you'll be all by yourself." Brian pointed out as some of the camp leaders started to file in. Brian introduced Katie to them as they stepped in, noticing a new face. They were all young like Brian, and they were very kind. Katie did feel a bit out of place, but she would sit through anything to be with Brian at that point.

They all finally found their way into the Club House. They all gathered together and decided to start placing teams for Capture the Flag. The leaders were so nice they asked Katie to play with them so she could be with Brian. It seemed as if what Brian was talking about was true, and it looked bleak for any attention from him the rest of the night. Katie withdrew from the bunch and told Brian she'd be napping in his cabin.

As Katie left, rain began to fall hard. She ran to the cabin. As she stepped onto the front step of his cabin, she slipped off the step and fell into the mud. She hurt her ankle and scraped her knee. Once the pain hit, she began to cry. She crawled into the cabin and sat down on his bed, wet as a dog.

"If he's gonna choose to play a game over seeing his girlfriend, he can sleep on a wet bed tonight!" She screamed as she turned on the light and looked at the damage. She had twisted her left ankle, and it swelled. Only a couple of months earlier did she sprain that same ankle, her left ankle, the first time.

**Flashback**

Katie was dressed and ready for gym class. It was the week before Spring Break in March of her senior year. The seniors were having an assembly the next class to determine their classes during the week of Art Symposium. Katie was excited! She knew which classes she wanted to take. She wanted to take an acting workshop, a choir workshop, and the creative writing workshop. She was hoping those classes would not be too filled up by the time she got the chance to sign for them.

She took her place at the badminton net and met up with her partner, Lee. He was a tall and cute guy in her class. They hung around the whole semester. He also was a fellow student assistant in the library. That was how she met him. He was into martial arts, and anime. He was also a bit of an artist, and had quite the personality. No matter what came out of his mouth, she wound up laughing. He often got in trouble during the second class they had together, astronomy.

The game had started and Lee and Katie were having a good time. They were quite the team. Until disaster struck. The opposing team hit the birdie her way. Katie watched the birdie as it flew high above her head. She stepped backwards, ready to hit it. At the same time, a girl from another gym class ran to chase a volleyball.

Katie kept her eyes trained on the birdie when she suddenly bumped into someone, and she lost her balance. Katie then stepped on her left foot at such an angle that her foot caved in sideways. Katie hit the ground and the girl she bumped into just grabbed the volleyball and stood there staring at Katie as she rolled onto her side and grabbed her ankle, crying.

Lee saw what happened and ran to her side. He saw her ankle swell like a balloon. "I'm gonna go get the teacher. I'll be right back."

Katie opened her eyes and looked at her classmates. They all just stood there and asked her if she was okay. She told them her ankle was sprained and she asked for help. No one moved. It was as if she was a leper or something. She could tell they were upset by the scene. None of them tried to reassure her that she'd be okay, or even helped to take her obstructing shoe off.

The girl she bumped into apologized and ran. Katie wanted so badly to hit her for being so stupid, but she was in too much pain. The teacher from the other gym class came by and took a look at her ankle to see what happened. She punished the girl who bumped into her and helped get Katie's shoe off. All the while, Lee was missing in action. Katie's teacher had sent him to the nurses' office to get a wheel chair.

Katie's teacher ran to her side and assessed the situation. That was when Lee returned with the nurse. He helped Katie to get up the stairs and helped her into the wheel chair outside the field house. Lee then went back to class since he couldn't get off to help her any longer. The nurse wheeled Katie to the office to get a closer look of her ankle and to notify her mother of the situation.

"Will I still be able to go to the assembly?" Katie asked as the bell rang, for the class to be over.

"No, we don't have wheel chair access to the auditorium from here, and you need to go to the doctor to have your ankle looked at." The nurse explained.

"But please! I'm not gonna be able to sign up for the workshops I need to take! Please just wheel me down there." Katie begged as she began to cry. Not because of the pain, but due to missing the assembly she had been looking forward to the whole week.

"No, I'm sorry, but you're just gonna have to miss it, Hun." The nurse answered as tears began to fall from Katie's eyes. The very day she was looking forward to the most was turning out to be the worst day. Who knew what workshops she'd end up with, if only it weren't for that stupid girl. And all she did was grab her ball, say, 'sorry' and ran off…'Bitch.' Katie thought to herself as the nurse handed Katie the phone for her to call her mom.

After about 20 minutes, Katie's mom arrived and they were off to the nearest clinic. It turned out Katie had definitely sprained her left ankle and it was a bad one. Not only would she be laid up at home with her foot propped up the rest of the day, but she would also be dealing with that pain throughout the trip her parents and her were going on down to Branson, Missouri. They were planning on going for the week of Spring Break, and a long week that was. She spent it on crutches. All because of a volleyball.

**End of flashback**

Katie lay on Brian's bed and dabbed the blood from her knee. It was storming outside now. She felt horrible, and she was all alone. She waited 'til the blood on her knee stopped and her ankle felt a little better. She wrote him a note and decided to just go home. She didn't want anyone to see her like that. She was having a bad night and Brian wasn't helping an inch. Once the rain let up a bit, she left the cabin and walked as best as she could to her car and got in. She started the engine and drove off.

When she arrived home, her parents saw the mess she was in and they tended to her wounds and gave her some painkillers for her ankle. She crawled into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

She and her family were on their way to the school. It was night time out. Brian had asked them all to come and help him. He was itching to escape, and they were his ticket. Katie's father worked on planes in the air force during the Vietnam War. He knew how they worked and knew how to fix them. He would use her father to help create a diversion so he could slip away and be freed of war. 

Brian had been drafted to fight in the third world war. Their high school had been turned into a war zone. There were planes sitting in the fields around the school. The school became the head quarters for the air force. Brian had said he didn't want to be involved in wars. He tried to avoid the military. When he was drafted, Katie cried, thinking she'd never see him again.

When Katie and her parents arrived, Brian met up with them right away and took them on a tour through the complex. When they showed the airplanes to Katie's dad, he right away went to work and created a diversion. One of the engines on the plane blew up.

Brian took Katie's hand and took off running down the street. They didn't get away without notice like they had hoped. A few of his colleagues caught him fleeing. In the military, they call those who flee traitors. Three of them took off after Brian and Katie. They reached the fleers and they cornered them in the middle of an intersection lit by streetlights. Brian held Katie to him as they circled the two.

"Where ya goin', Brian?"

"You're not fleeing, are ya?"

"You are not allowed to run, you're stuck. Only death awaits you if you flee. You know too much."

Brian began to fear what he had done, but stood his ground. "Stay close to me Katie. I wouldn't want them to get their hands on you."

"I won't leave your side." Katie reassured as she watched the lunatics circle them like flies on meat.

"Nice woman ya got there, Brian. You fuck her yet? Is she good?"

"None of your business, asshole." Brian seethed.

"Heh…When we're through with you, she's ours for the night."

"You bastards! You won't lay a finger on her!" Brian shouted.

One of the guys got a hold of Katie's shirt and pulled her from him. Brian twirled around to late to grab a hold. The guy pulled Katie to the other side of the street. She screamed for him and fought as hard as she could to get away. She watched as the other two fought with Brian. He did his best to fight them off and dodge bullets. Katie got scared. She finally over powered the guy holding her and she hit him right between the eyes as hard as she could and knocked him out.

As she ran to Brian, a shot rang out and he stilled in his spot. He looked at her as he fell to the street.

"NOOOO!" Katie screamed as she ran to Brian's side. She cradled his head in her lap. He had been shot from behind, but the bullet went through his stomach. She saw blood seep from his mouth as he said her name. The guys they fought ran from the scene and left them be as he died in her arms in the middle of that lit intersection that night.

* * *

Katie sat up and screamed. Another dream of his death. After that, she cried for over an hour. That dream had seemed so real. She looked out the window. It had stopped raining. She looked at the manual alarm clock and saw that it was 6:00 am. She laid there in her bed as tears fell one by one.

She heard her fathers' voice in the living room. He was talking about generators. She looked up to her ceiling and noticed her fan was off. She got up to turn it back on. When she flipped the switch, nothing happened.

"Oh no, the power's out." Katie groaned. That meant there was no way she could sleep. She couldn't sleep in complete silence, so she stepped out into the hallway looking for her parents. Neither of them was there, and her dad's work truck was still in the driveway.

"What the…why isn't dad at work?"

After about an hour, Katie's mother came home and told her the news. The neighborhood had been flooded due to the hard rains from the night before. It had rained hard for 12 hours straight and all the sewers and retention ponds had overflowed. They had been out helping the neighbors whose homes were flooded. Overall, not much excitement, other than it being the night of a hundred year flood in Aurora.

They found out the street her sister and brother in law's house was on was actually a river over a hundred years ago. Many residents in the Aurora area found out they lived on flood plains and insurance basically screwed a lot of them. Many people were rendered homeless and many people wound up losing vehicles due to the high waters.

Her sister and brother in law wound up moving back into their parent's house due to the flooding their house endured. They needed to refurbish the house due to all the water. The Lindens were lucky. They only had maybe an inch of water come up from the toilet in the basement. No harm done, whereas the house across the street from them wound up with six feet of water in their basement.

Brian called that night to ask if she was okay. He told her that that night after they all had gone to bed, lightning had struck this dead tree right next to Brian's cabin. He said that if the branch that broke off had fallen just a few feet the other way, it would have landed on their cabin. Katie really was shaken up over that news, but she was relieved that they all made it through then night safely.

Most of the rest of the month of July, things were busy with the family, since they were spending all free time to help refurbish Katie's sister's house. Brian came down on the weekends and on Wednesday nights. He decided not to repeat what had happened earlier that month with Katie. He felt bad she hurt herself while she was there and he was beginning to miss her more than anything.

Finally, August came around, and Brian was free of camp. They had a whole month to themselves. They saw each other every day and had a good time, least 'til Brian started school. He still had his senior year left as Katie started college. Katie was having fun. She had been taking voice lessons and was working in the library all summer at the community college where she applied.

She started her classes full time and she also devised a schedule to keep working in the library during the semester. She was getting good grades and doing well. She had many things she was involved in and her teachers were great. She met many new people and made new friends. College was proving to be just as fun if not better than high school. Even with her busy schedule, she was able to plan to show up for Brian's special events with the choirs as well.

After one hard evening at the library in October, she came home and started her homework. Once she was finished, she was so tired, she decided to head to bed early. She said goodnight to her parents and her sister and brother in law and then closed her door. She changed into her nightclothes, turned of the lights and snuggled under her covers.

**

* * *

First person POV**

"Did you pack everything?" I asked Brian next to me in the bus seat.

"Yeah, I think so." Brian answered as he looked through his backpack for his walkman.

I looked around me, and noticed we were on a bus filled with other kids. We were on a field trip. For what reason, I don't know. We were going through this town, which looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't make out where. All I could think about was Brian and I being in our own hotel room by ourselves. I couldn't wait to make it to the pool and swim with him.

We arrive at this little tiny motel out in the middle of the town. It was no Holiday Inn that was for sure. When we got all our stuff off the bus, we were led to our rooms. Only it didn't look like we were going to be alone after all. The rooms seemed to only be separated by cloth hanging from the ceilings.

"Odd." I stated as I looked around at our 'supposed' motel room.

"Yeah, I guess we're sharing?" Brian asked as he set down his bags.

I walked up to the sheet hanging at the end of our room and pushed it aside. I saw this family of four sitting in front of a TV. They looked at me like I had ants all over me.

"Hi!" I said as I raised my hand and smiled sheepishly.

"Hi…" They drawled out and turned their attentions back to the TV.

I let the sheet fall and just stood there for a second as I thought about how their room looked. They had no personality and they looked like they were living in the 70's. I shrugged and turned to the bed where Brian sat and our luggage was stacked around him. He was rummaging through his suitcase and his backpack.

"Damn!" He shouted.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I stepped up beside him.

"I forgot my swimming trunks!"

I know where they are! They're at my house. Ya want me to go get them? Or do ya want to go and buy a pair?" I asked.

"I'll go look to see if I can buy a pair, but I'm not sure we'll be able to find any since its not swimming season. Ya wanna go see if ya can go get 'em from home?" He asked.

"Sure, I'll call mom's cell phone." I mentioned as I picked up the room phone and dialed the number.

It turned out she was in the area with the suburban. She swung by and picked me up and we went back to the house. I drove the suburban on the way back to the motel. I was just coming up to the bridge before town when mom's cell phone started to ring. She picked up the phone and said it was Brian. I pulled over and answered the phone.

"Hey honey, what's up?" I asked.

"Hey. I'm on the street corner by the general store. I couldn't find any pairs of trunks. Did you find mine at your mom's?"

I looked forward and I saw him standing at the phone booth. "Yeah, we found them. I'm just at the other end of the bridge, can you see us?" I asked as he looked up and waved. I waved back.

Suddenly, a car lost control and rammed into the building where Brian was standing at the phone. The car crushed him between the hood and the brick building. I screamed as I heard his grunting from the impact. I screamed his name in the phone over and over. His body slumped over to hood of the car and the phone lost connection. I saw it happen. I saw his death.

**End of first person POV**

* * *

"AAAAHHHH…Ha ha hahahaaaaa…." Katie sat up crying once again. Her heart fell as the images of that gruesome accident went through her mind. At first, she thought the other dreams she had of his death were due to him being far away at camp, but he's only five minutes away at school. She really began to worry if something wasn't right. Three very different dreams, very different scenarios and he died every time. She wondered if these dreams were trying to tell her something.

"Hey John!" Katie called out as she stepped into the stacks at the library, seeing John shelving a book.

"Hey, Katie. What's up?" He responded, turning towards the cart next to him for another book.

"I got something really odd to tell you." She said as she walked up to the cart and grabbed a book as well.

"What's that?" He asked as he stuck the book back into its rightful spot.

"Well, I know I didn't tell you about this earlier, but something's bothering me. Brian and I have been dating since March, and you know how I told you he spent the summer at camp?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I had three dreams since June. In those three dreams he was either already dead, or he was killed right before my eyes. What do you think that means?" Katie asked.

"Whoa…Hmm…I really don't know. Maybe we should check the section that has books on dreams. We might be able to find something." He mentioned. Katie followed him to the section all the way in the front. They found a book that held meanings of dreams and the like. Katie stood there and thumbed through it.

"If ya find anything, let me know. Maybe you should check it out and we can sit together at lunch tomorrow and talk about it. I'm interested in what you find." John said as he walked back to his cart of books.

Katie continued to thumb through the book as she walked back to the circulation desk and checked the book out. John was one of Katie's new friends. She met him her first night at college. They had math class together. They hit it off after just a few minutes. They had been talking almost constantly after that. She had introduced John and Brian soon after they met. Brian and John had also become friends. John was a very sweet guy. He was her age and he lived the next town south of her in Oswego.

Since their math class was in the evenings, they would leave after it had already fallen dark. Katie ended up parking in the overflow parking lot, which was quite a walk from the building where their math class was held. John was afraid for Katie, and walked her to her car every evening they had class. If it rained, he would drive her to her car.

That night, she looked through the book, and tried to get some info on it, but she came up trumps. No matter how many books she later went through for explanations, she found nothing of use. All they could give her were possibilities and theories. After a bit, she decided to let it go and consider it just coincidence and move on.

* * *

Freaky chapter, ne? These dreams have no relevance just yet, but they will be of great importance much later. From here on out, there will be jumps in the timeline. It's important that I skip time not only due to holes in my memory, but also due to things happening in those periods of time that have absolutely no relevance to the story. I'd like to get the ball rolling to keep you all entertained. I try to focus on the important parts that add up to where the story twists and turns later on, and I'm talking about twists…(Author twists her body like a pretzel just thinking about it.) 

crack Ah...That felt good sigh I needed that…'Til next time, Ja ne!


	21. Time Passes

**I do not own Inuyasha.**

Well, now. It seems this fic is starting to see more viewers. I'm glad to see that this fic is catching more eyes. I'm sorry if it seems very slow, but I assure you, it will begin to speed up more now that we are past the character development. I certainly hope you all have been able to catch the little things I've stuck in that point out that they definitely aren't in control of their fates. Also, some of those points may have no significance right now, but they certainly will in later chapters. Anyways, thanks for reading, and don't be shy in leaving reviews. That definitely lets me know people love the fic and want to read more, k? Enjoy!

**Chapter 21: Time Passes**

Katie had become wrapped up in college. She was involved in the choir, with her job at the library, and she enjoyed her friends who joined her every day. Scott had also decided to get his associates there at the local community college. He was in an interesting class, Rock Ensemble. Katie went to their concerts and enjoyed listening in when she wasn't busy with classes. Scott played guitar and he was great at it.

For as long as Katie had known Scott, he played his guitar for her. She became interested in writing poetry in high school. Getting together with Scott gave her a chance to write lyrics, which became her number one hobby other than singing. He'd write the riffs, and she'd come up with lyrics as she listened to the tone of the song. She didn't have the imagination to write the bars, but words were her specialty. They created quite a few songs together, and they had hoped to open a band while the two of them were in high school. Problem was, either no one knew who they were, or they just weren't interested 'because they already had their own bands.

Scott found his calling when he found Rock Ensemble at the college. He got the chance to play and perform on stage and do what he does best and be appreciated for once. At the first concert in Rock Ensemble, Katie was smiling widely. Yes, it was loud, due to there being five rhythm guitarists, when they only needed no more than two, but to see her friend doing what he had always wanted to do, that was a thrill to her.

Even though Katie was dating Brian, Scott remained by her side as a close friend. He let her in where no one else was allowed. They bike rode together, they watched movies, and they played games. But most of all, they made music. To Scott, she was his world. There was no other woman he would allow to touch his hand let alone his heart. Her family soon became his family due to his family breaking apart. In high school, his father left the family for another woman. To Scott, his father leaving him and his mother was devastation. He felt pain he didn't even have the heart to express to Katie even. After that, he called Katie's father his adopted father.

One thing that had been going on during the week while Brian was not able to be with Katie was Katie, Brandon and Scott began going out at night to the River Walk where Katie and Brian had gone to after prom before. The threesome became very close. They would go out at 11:00pm and they would just go out and walk around. They all had things to get off their chests and talk to someone about. Katie was there mainly to be their ears. She listened to their hard times, what was going through their minds and their hearts at the time.

They would stay at the River Walk until two or three in the morning. Katie's family had dubbed them 'The Night Riders' since most of what they did together was at night. Brandon's life was nothing short of sad and hard. He was the only one out of his family who was not loved. His father played favorites and didn't even show him appreciation for things he did. He looked to Katie's father for the love and guidance he never received from his own father. Katie and Tabitha treated him like a brother and their mother even showed him love he needed.

They were sister and brothers and they became very close. Every now and then, they would invite Brian along, but the two brothers became a bit over protective of Katie secretively. They both treasured her company and her love above anyone else's. In some ways, they felt Brian had some growing up to do, but they felt it wasn't right to step in between their sister's relationship with Brian.

Katie would often get together with Scott on the beautiful weekdays when they had no school. They would go to the main bike trails that followed the river. They would go to the hotdog place where Katie went to with Jason, and they would go to the nearest fast food restaurant in the town north of them off the river. Every time, Scott would treat, since she was the woman.

One thing she never understood was why Scott never had any girlfriends, or any girls chasing after him for that matter. He was very sweet, sensitive and handsome. He was a talented musician and an artist. He treated her even better than Brian had in some respects. He was a man to her, not a boy as he saw himself.

Brandon was the type to be a bit rebellious. He was the type of guy who would excel in shop class and loved to build things. He enjoyed the thrill of creating things. He was a true carpenter. He was typical when it came to a man, but a little lost in his ways when it came to the hearts of women. Katie sat back and watched him date her friend Millie for about a year or so. But, she felt smothered by him due to his pursuit of love and acceptance. He was the kind of man who had scarred hands that were always dirty, dressed in flannel and tattered t-shirts and jeans. He was no Casanova, but he did have a heart yearning for more. He wanted nothing more than to share the love in his heart, and needed it in return.

Katie saw this, and felt for him. Though he looked after her in some ways, she knew what he truly felt for her. She figured it out a long time ago. Both Scott and Brandon were in love with her. Scott, of course, could never say it, but he did express it in silent ways. Mainly through his actions and through his devotion. Brandon, pretty much tried to stay impartial with his feelings, but he did show her in his devotion as well.

As time passed that semester, Katie and Brian became closer and they began to open up to each other emotionally and physically as well. That winter, Katie turned 19. They shared some great memories together that fall and winter. They tried as hard as they could to stay true to each other's promises of virginity, but it was hard. They scrambled to try to get privacy every now and then due to their urges to need to be together.

They had found out about what it meant to go 'parking', as in what their parents had talked about. Katie and Brian discovered how much they needed each other, and found out how hard it was to not join the numbers added among the statistics of teenage sex victims. Their vow to each other as long as they were together was they wanted to be virgins the day they marry. Brian had seen his siblings make mistakes and felt he didn't want to follow suit. Katie's parents were good kids when they were young and made sure they too saved themselves for marriage.

Though hard, it was, they did what they could, and Brian gained knowledge of Katie's body. He learned from her first hand how to drive a woman crazy. To Katie, he was the hunk of her life. He wasn't tall and thin, he was about her height and bulky. He was a teddy bear. He was only an inch taller than her, but he was so strong both in body and in mind. He was hard to tackle when it came to football, he very rarely got sick, and he was strong at heart as well.

Soon, Katie became his every breathe. He realized how much he needed her and wanted her. It got hard for him to be away from her for too long. Katie realized that she couldn't see any other man as wonderful as Brian. She even overlooked Scott.

When Brian's Prom came around, he invited Katie and she accepted. It was to be at the Aurora Round House restaurant. It was very romantic. She got him on the dance floor more than once that night. The food was more of a buffet and the DJ was a change from the previous couple of years. The prom took place all in one room. Most of his peers who had been in choir with both of them the previous year were shocked to see Katie there with Brian. Katie reveled in the shock and just smiled and dragged him off, making them guess how far they've gone. They didn't go to the Prom All Nighter that year. They decided to go home and relax and enjoy their time together afterwards and go to bed early, since they had planned to go to the nearest theme park the next morning with a group of friends from his class.

* * *

I know, short chappy. But, don't fret. I did a double chappy day. I decided to pass the time with this short chapter to lead up to the next one focusing on their time at the theme park. Some things happen that will put into perspective what Scott and Brandon had already known about Brian, but Katie was too blind to see. So, onto the next chappy! 


	22. Fun, Fun, Fun!

**I do not own Inuyasha**

Well, here's the next chappy. This one will be a long one, and very exciting, since there will be roller coasters and other exciting things going on…Heh heh heh…rubs hands together

**Chapter 22: Fun, Fun, Fun**

Katie and Brian woke up early the next morning after prom. They all called each other a week ahead of time to make sure they could finalize their plans for the local theme park. Brian arrived at Katie's house at 7:30 that morning, and they both waited for their ride to show up. Ted and the rest of the small entourage appeared at 8am in a firebird. Yes, a small sports car. Katie and Brian ended up in the back. Katie ended up on his lap, and Ted and his girl in the same position joined them. The two other guys in the front were both only acquaintances to Katie, but peers to both Ted and Brian.

As they cruised the highway to the theme park. The two couples in the back kissed and cuddled. The two guys up front navigated the toll road and got them there within two hours. Katie's sister and mother had also decided to make the trip up there for the day, since Tabitha had the day off from work. Katie and Tabitha were big fans of roller coasters, and they had memories of riding them as kids. Their most memorable roller coaster experience was on a ride that was long torn down and replaced by another. The theme park had become a haven of memories for the two girls. Tabitha wanted to share that with her, since she was present the last time Katie went after prom.

When they arrived, they parked and walked the long distance to the gates where they presented the tickets they had bought ahead of time. They parted from the crowd after the gates and all settled down on the side of the big fountain at the entrance.

"So, where should we go first?" Ted asked, looking at his companions.

"Batman! Let's ride that one! That one gathers the lines that last for hours! Let's get that one out of the way."

Brian looked to Katie and said, "It does? Is it really that fun?"

"Oh yeah, in my opinion, it's the best ride here, Brian." Katie assured. Brian had never been to the theme park before, so he was excited to be there with her, an expert who's ridden almost every ride there.

"I wanna ride the Eagle!" Ted shouted.

"Oh no…I refuse to go on that ride." Katie shook her head.

"Why not? That one's much better than Batman, by far!" Ted challenged.

"Oh yeah, an old wooden roller coaster that rocks your body like a road full of pebbles, and the lap bar doesn't even hold your butt to the seat! You're crazy. I don't feel safe on that one." Katie explained as she crossed her arms and shook her head from side to side.

Brian put his arm around her shoulders and winked at her as he turned to Ted and said, "Eagle it is."

Katie looked at Brian in shock. "What? No way! I'm not riding that one!"

"Aw c'mon, Katie. I'm here for thrills. I'm sure it's safer than you think. You've gone on it and you're still here, right?" He assured.

"Yeah, but I was lucky. That ride gets stuck at the first hill all the time! I don't wanna end up stuck up there, and then have to walk down a ladder to the platform from those heights." She whined.

"You're my lucky trump card. Nothing's gonna happen. Please go on it with me? I plan to ride every ride here today, and I would love it if you joined me on all of them. Please?" Brian pleaded.

By the time, they were done trying to decide if Katie would be joining Brian on the ride or not, they were already there. Katie, needless to say, was shaking. She was scared out of her wits. She wasn't afraid of heights, but she knew how much more fun it would be if she felt completely safe. She had only gone on that ride once before with her sister back when they were kids. That was before they put the second car backwards on the track. The last time Katie and Tabitha rode the Eagle, it was with their grandpa. The Eagle was one of his favorite rides, strangely enough.

Katie, before she knew it, was pulled into line with Brian and wound up at their seat by the time she tried to back out one last time. Brian pulled her into her seat and she reluctantly pulled the lap bar as far down on her lap as it would go, which there was over an inch left between her lap and the bar. The guy who checks the cars to make sure they are safe pulled on her lap bar to make sure it was set and walked to the next car. By that time, Katie knew that was it…She was stuck…

"Remind me after the ride to belt you." She growled to Brian.

"What? What did I do?" He asked innocently.

"You got me on this ride, that's what! I hate this ride! I can't believe I'm sitting in this seat!" Katie yelled as the car rolled out of the station, no turning back now.

"Oh, don't worry about it. You'll be fine, I'm right here with you." He assured her as he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "You won't fly out as long as I got your hand."

Katie's breathe became rapid as she began to cry. She wanted to believe him, but she wasn't sure anymore. He sat in complete confidence and was excited for the rush, whereas she was afraid for their lives. She wanted to have fun, but not be scared out of her wits. Out of all the rides in the park, this one scared her the most. And what happens to asthmatics when they get scared? Yep, you guessed it, hyperventilation and they could pass out. Only difference this in situation, there would be no passing out when you're too busy screaming for your life.

As the car reached the top, and the clicking ended, the car dropped over the other side of the huge hill. Katie's butt left the seat as she screamed loud and clear. She didn't even feel for the girl Ted was with in the seat in front of hers.

Brian shouted "Woooooo!" At the top of his lungs. He laughed the whole time as their stomachs rose to their throats as the drop made them feel like they were flying. Katie held onto his hand so hard her knuckles were white, and Brian's hand was red. He didn't care if she hurt him. He wanted the biggest thrill by her side. He wanted to experience her fears as well. He believed she was stronger than she led herself to believe.

Over the course of the ride, the hills were much smaller and they didn't fall nearly as fast. Katie's eyes were still glued wide open, and she began to show signs of stress over her limit. She couldn't stop screaming. Her breathing was too rushed and she couldn't catch her breathe. Brian's fun left him clueless to what his love was experiencing. All in all, he was proud to experience that great thrill with the girl by his side.

As their car returned to the station, Katie lifted the bar over her lap and Brian stepped out before her. Katie collapsed on the concrete just after she stepped out of the car. She was hyperventilating and her hand hurt badly.

"Katie! You okay?" Brian shouted as he crouched down next to her.

"What happened, Brian?" Ted asked as he joined the small group around the girl. They tried to pick her up and get her out of the way so she wouldn't get hurt. Brian picked her up in his arms and walked down the ramp to the entrance of the ride. Katie was losing consciousness, and her body was going numb. She had lost her breathe and she couldn't catch it.

As they reached the benches at the entrance, Brian sat down with her on his lap and tried to comfort her. She finally calmed down after a few minutes, then hugged him tightly and began to cry as she smacked his back and screamed how mad she was at him for making her go on the ride she feared the most.

"Why? Why didn't you listen to me? Why did you make me go through that again? How could you? You're such a jerk!" She cried.

"Shhh…It's okay now. We're okay, aren't we? Calm down, Katie. Don't worry about it, it's over. We're safe." He reassured her.

"But, why? I wanna know what you got out of scaring me like that!" She shouted at his face enraged.

"I wanted to experience that ride with you. I wanted to see what you were so scared about. I loved it! It was an old-fashioned thrill. What's so wrong with that? And, I told you we'd be okay, didn't I? Don't tell me you lost trust in me because of an old roller coaster." He explained.

Katie sniffed and stared at him as if he was speaking in a foreign language. "I don't understand what was so special about me screaming my lungs out. All I see is that you still love to get in trouble and you won't listen to me. You like it when I get pissed at you, don't you? Admit it!" She shouted.

"No! That's not it! It's an interesting memory we have now! Isn't that reason enough to do something like that for?" Brian shot back.

"Oh, yeah…keep it interesting…Yeah…Keep me mad at you, is more like it." She shot back as she slipped off his lap and looked away.

Brian sighed as he reached over and brought her face to his in a chaste kiss. "I didn't do it to get myself in trouble. To tell ya the truth, I wanted to see what you were so scared of. You had said repeatedly you were frightened of this innocent ride that even our parents have ridden and enjoyed. I had heard so many good things about the Eagle, and I wanted to experience it with you and no one else for the first time." He explained as he held her chin in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her skin.

Katie thought about her response to that for a moment as she sniffed and stared into his honest eyes. She had no retort to shoot at him after something as sweet as that. 'Why didn't he just say that before we went on the ride, I would have been more confident?' She thought to herself as her eyes began to tear.

"Well, fine then. I wish ya woulda said that in the first place instead of arguing with me on the way to our 'doom'. And just to let you know, that's the last time I'm ever riding this ride. If you ride it again, you're on your own, I've paid my dues. So let's move on to the next ride, k?" She replied as she looked into his eyes with a slight glare.

"Okay, I won't make you ride this again, I promise. Man, you really held on tight to my hand! It hurts now!" He exclaimed in shock at his red hand.

"Well, I had to hurt you somehow through that ride to justify my fear." She shot back as she noticed he began to run after her and chase her out of fun. They ran ahead of the group and ran towards another part of the park.

"Okay, we rode your favorite first, now let's ride mine." Katie suggested as she led Brian and the group to the Viper.

"The Viper? Oh c'mon, Katie! The Viper is the exact same as the Eagle only smaller!" Ted shouted.

"So. I like this ride more than the Eagle. It's safer." She explained as she pouted in the line.

Brian stepped up and held her close and said, "Sure, we'll ride this next." They kissed a couple of times and then Katie turned in his arms and he held her back against his chest.

The group talked and joked through the line and when they got to ride, they tried to get on the same car. They all joined each other and shouted at the same curves and dips. Katie seemed much more relaxed on the Viper. She laughed and 'Woo hood' the whole time as Brian's whoops mixed with hers.

Brian looked over to her during the Viper and saw how animated and excited she was. He realized that absolute change in her character. He decided he didn't like the fear as much as he liked the excitement in her eyes. To him, her eyes lit up and she smiled even wider than when he just simply made her happy. She sang her praises through the whole ride, and that made him hope that he could satisfy her that much one day. When she was excited, she was so much more beautiful. She was happy.

After the Viper, they rode a few other rides and had a good time. Then, it came to around noon. Katie and the others had grown hungry. Of course, when you get a group of people who don't know each other well, or mix well for that matter, they have no clue as to how to handle group activities. Ultimately, there needs to be a leader, someone who listens to everyone's requests and ideas and makes a decision.

Katie was getting restless and upset over the fact that neither of the group members knew where they really wanted to eat. Not only that, but they didn't want to split up either. That made it even harder. Katie's stomach just growled loudly as they all argued for about ten minutes. Finally, Katie took control.

"All right! Cut it out!" She shouted. Everyone stared at her like she had just given birth through her mouth. "Now, we all need to eat something. I am so hungry that my stomach is starting to eat itself! Now money is not an issue with me, but since it is for the rest of you, we'd might as well just go to Mickey D's at the entrance so we don't all spend an arm and a leg and we can all get fed well, Whatta ya say!"

Katie eyed everyone like a hawk for any stragglers willing to challenge her reasoning and suggestion. After a moment, everyone sort of just swallowed their pride and acted as if Mickey D's was where they wanted to go all along and just turned around and started towards the exit to the park. Katie caught her breathe and calmed down. Then, she felt an arm snake around her shoulders and she turned to see it was Brian smiling at her.

"Shall we go eat?" He asked as she gained a smile in turn for his. Once she awarded him with a kiss, they headed out after the rest of the group towards the fast food restaurant.

They all sat together and ate in happy conversation. They all thanked Katie for suggesting in such a manner, knowing they were all afraid to say what they really wanted. A couple of the other girls that met with them said they figured their dates were planning on taking them to the park restaurants and they didn't want the guys to feel disappointed about not being able to spend money on their girls. The girls were shocked that their guys weren't planning to spend money on them.

Katie felt great for the first time that day. Once they were all done eating, they walked back into the park, and headed for Batman. They waited in line for about an hour and they enjoyed the feeling of flying for 30 seconds. Brian thoroughly enjoyed Batman and told Katie she was right about how much fun it was. Next, they walked just a little ways down the street and hit Iron Wolf, the first stand-up rollercoaster.

Katie realized the first time she rode that ride that her legs were not strong enough to take the pressure of standing during the G's her body was put through while on the ride. But, that never stopped her. She found a little tiny ledge in front of her feet she rested her shoes on. Since they were meant to stand up on the ride, there was a shoulder harness and a padded bar that came up to rest between your legs to hold your lower body in place and for support. Katie straddled the bar and let her feet sit on the small ledge. Yes, she was numb every time afterwards, but it was miniscule to not riding such a fun ride.

Brian was shocked by how much fun Iron Wolf was. Iron Wolf, became his ultimate favorite ride, due to how different the sensation was of standing on the ride. They rode Iron Wolf a few times afterwards, since the line wasn't nearly as long as Batman.

After that, they rode a few small rides and made their way around the park. The next ride they hit was the Demon. Now that ride, was still new to Katie. Her sister and mother had gotten her on the ride only a couple years before. So, she had only ridden it twice. She was still nervous because of the steep drop in the beginning. When they caught the nachos stand just before the lines leading to the Demon, they all sat and ate nachos and talked about which rides were their favorites so far.

Ted was still hung up on the Eagle. 'Tsch' Katie thought to herself. As they all talked, Katie's sister and mother showed up at the nachos stand beside them. Katie shouted to them, and caught their attention. Katie grabbed the nachos, and then Brian's hand and they stepped up to sit beside the two women. Brian enjoyed the nachos and the drink they bought as Katie explained how Brian dragged her on the Eagle. Tabitha smacked Brian over the shoulder and gave him an ultimatum to, 'Listen to Katie, or die.' Katie laughed and they all just sorta talked and laughed as they all got up, tossed out their garbage and went to stand in line for the Demon.

Katie felt very safe in this ride due to it having a shoulder harness and handles on the harness itself, which not all the rides had. She was happy to be next to Brian on the Demon. The drop alone shocked him. They woo hoo'd through the ride and laughed as they looped over and under a waterfall. The ride was fast and it felt to Katie like they were being carried by a strong demon as it leapt from angle to angle at swift speeds and precision.

Once they were finished braving the Demon, they headed past the entrance to the last of the big rides. The Shockwave. That ride was famed to have the fastest drop in the park, 65 mph. It was tall, blue and it was filled with corkscrews. Katie had never been on that ride either, but with her sister and her mother being there, she wasn't allowed to refuse it. The Shockwave was like the Eagle in the sense that there was no wait in line, so Katie had no chance for second thoughts. She decided that since she had undoubtedly braved the Eagle that day, the Shockwave would be nothing.

Well, they all got on the ride, and the train left the station. As they climbed the steep hill, Katie and Brian began to panic. The grade was so high; they had no idea what they were into. Just going up the hill, their hearts were in their throats. They looked around and noticed they could see the entire park form up at the heights they were at. Then, the clicking stopped, and they turned a corner and dropped so fast they thought they screamed their lungs out. The ride was so smooth, and there was no way they couldn't notice how thin the track was. It was like they were falling down a rope! It just seemed as if it was a stream of water holding them up, like surfing. They looped a few times. Then they felt the G's and they all felt their heads trying to withstand the forces as the corkscrews pushed them completely horizontal to the ground for ten seconds. After the corkscrews, they ended up back at the station, all of them breathing heavily, but feeling as if they weighed nothing because of all the G's they experienced.

That was when Katie noticed the sky was getting dark from the west. She figured, 'Well if it rains, it'll only storm for an hour or so then stop and it'll be sunny again.' No one really paid attention to the change in the weather. So, they went back to the nearest section and decided to try the Giant Drop, the newest ride in the park that year. They had a two to three hour wait ahead of them, and they figured they'd go out with a bang.

As they stood in line for 45 minutes, Katie looked to the west again and saw the clouds heading their way. The clouds looked ominous. They were dark and low.

Katie pointed it out to Brian and he said, "Darn, and we don't have ponchos or anything. I guess we're gonna get soaked."

"Yeah, I hope it's not as bad as it looks out there." Katie commented.

Katie paid most of her attention to the clouds and listened to the radio station playing in the speakers around them. Suddenly a broadcast came over the speakers about the impending weather.

"Warning, there has been a tornado warning scheduled for Gurnee starting at 4:00 pm. There is a possibility of high winds, hail and damaging lightning. Funnel clouds have been sighted. We suggest all patrons please get indoors as quickly as possible. There are tornado shelters located near the entrance to the park. Please head there now. Thank You."

Katie turned to Brian and looked behind him. All the people in line behind them had turned their eyes to the clouds and turned back. "Maybe we should go, Brian. It could get bad out." Katie suggested.

"But we've been waiting in this line for over an hour now, and we're almost there." Brian whined.

"Yeah, but look, everyone ahead of us who isn't close to the ride is turning to leave the lines. You wanna fight against them for safety?" She asked. So, he turned around and they fled the line.

Brian then looked to Ted and said, "Hey…One last go on the eagle." Ted agreed and they raced to the ride, Katie in tow protesting they should just leave the park before it got bad.

The two guys got their wish and left Katie sitting on the bench, watching the clouds roll in. One thing she noticed about the telltale about the storm blowing in was the green sky it brought along with it. She got antsy and she began to wish she had left with her sister and her mother. She paced and paced, complaining and crying all the while as the two buds were whooping their thrills on the Eagle.

Once the two boys returned, it had already started to rain, and they could hear the thunder in the distance. That was when everyone began to run towards the entrance. One thing Katie had decided while they had crossed paths with her sister and mother earlier was that they'd meet them at the fountain and go home with them. Katie couldn't find her mother or sister anywhere.

Finally, Katie figured they might have gone to the truck. So, Katie and Brian ran to the truck and used Katie's spare keys to get in. She could get in, but they weren't going to leave without them. They sat in the truck, holding each other close as the sky fell around them. They watched as lightning struck a light post right next to the Shockwave and caused an explosion.

As they sat there, Katie opened the rear passenger side door and stuck her head out to experience what was going on. 'Will I be able to see a tornado touch down today? The clouds are low enough, and the atmosphere is perfect!' She thought to herself. Then as she watched some of the rides shudder and move, she began to panic. One thing she remembered as they were running through the rain to get to the entrance, were the noises the rides were making. It was as if they were being pressured to collapse. Micro bursts.

Katie was excited to see what was unfolding around them, but at the same time, her family was out there in the park still, and she didn't want a ride to collapse on them. She was about to go run to the entrance to look for them when the rain started coming down in sheets. She got upset and started to freak out. Brian did his best to keep her calm and kiss her to distract her. He rubbed her arms to keep her warm and he rubbed her back to help relax her. It felt as thought they had been waiting for over an hour when Katie got an idea.

"Wait…The rain is coming down in sheets. I wonder if they can't see the suburban. The sub has an unusual air horn. I bet if we honked the horn, they will find us!" Katie exclaimed as she turned on the vehicle, turned on the lights, and laid on the horn. Brian thought it was futile, but after minutes of honking the horn, Tabitha and Paula arrived clothed in ponchos they had bought as it began to rain. It turned out, Katie was right, as if she had read their minds. They could not find the truck through the rain.

Once they were all belted in, they left the parking lot. They were among the fifty cars left in the parking lot as they raced on out. They turned and looked back to see the park peaceful, but the cloud seemed to hover over the park. Katie began to pray that was not the last time she'd ever see the park again.

When they got home, they watched the news on the weather reports. Apparently, the storm had produced tornadoes here and there, and in Aurora as well. There was a touch down in Gurnee, but it only hit a field near the mall and the park. Katie sighed in relief as she thought about how exciting their day had been. Brian only stayed a bit after they arrived home, and then he returned home himself, since he had school the next day.

Katie learned a lot about Brian that day. She realized he got excited when it came to seeing her excited and having a good time. She realized she was as entertaining to him when she was being wild as he was to her while he sang. The amount of emotions he put her through that day was amazing, but she knew she couldn't have been happier to know that day was over.

* * *

Well, that was fun to write. I ended up going through old memories and feelings while writing this chappy! And just In case you're curious, the rides mentioned are and were real. The park is named Six Flags Great America. These are my favorite roller coasters. And yes, the Eagle is my most feared ride. As I wrote that part of the chapter, I had flashbacks, it was so freaky! shivers But, now that that's over, I shouldn't ever have to remember those experiences again…Phew…That ride scared me more than any other ride and still does to this day. Now, I know it is a perfectly safe ride, but I do have phobias of rides that use only lap bars, and they don't completely hold your butt to the seat. I am all for shoulder harnesses! Anyways, I hope this chapter was as much of a thrill to read as it was for me to write it, and this is the end to the double chappy release! So, 'til next time, ja ne! 


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